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Report  of  Committee 
of  Seventeen 


on  the 


Professional  Preparation  of  High- 
School  Teachers 


Advance  print  from  Los  Angeles  Volume 


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library 

Of"  LHE 

"DIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


REPORT 

of  the  Committee  of  Seventeen 

on  the 

Professional  Preparation  of  High 
School  Teachers 


to  the 

Department  of  Secondary  Education  of  the  National 

/ 

Education  Association 


AT  THE  MEETING  AT 
LOS  ANGELES 
JULY,  1907 


Advance  Print  from  the  Volume  of  Proceedings 
Los  Angeles  Meeting 


v 


Composed  and  Printed  By 
The  University  of  Chicago  Press 
Chicago,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. 


I 


7 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 


Introduction . 

Reuben  Post  Halleck,  Principal  Boys’  High  School,  LouisHUe,  Ky.  .  .  523 

Joint  REcoiiMENDATiONs  of  the  Coadhttee  of  Seventeen  on  the  Profes¬ 
sional  Preparation  of  High-School  Teachers . 536 

A  Short  Course  of  Professional  Reading  for  High-School  Teachers  .  539 

Indrtdual  Papers  on  the  Professional  Preparation  of  High-School 

Teachers  - . 

U.  M.  Barrett,  principal  of  high  school,  Pueblo,  Colo . 541 

I 

Stratton  D.  Brooks,  superintendent  of  schools,  Boston,  Mass . 547 

J.  Stanley  Brown,  superintendent  of  JoHet,  lU.,  Tovniship  High  School  551 

Elivood  P.  Cuhherley,  associate  professor  of  education,  Leland  Stanford  Jr. 

University . 555 

Charles  De  Garmo,  professor  of  the  science  and  art  of  education,  Cornell 

University . 558 

Paul  H.  Hanus,  professor  of  education.  Harvard  University  .  .  .  -5^3 

E.  O.  Holland,  junior  professor  of  education  and  high-school  visitor. 

University  of  Indiana . 577 

C.  H.  Judd,  professor  of  psychology,  Yale  University . 582 

George  W.  A.  Luckey,  professor  of  education.  University  of  Nebraska  .  .  587 

George  H.  Martin,  secretary  of  ^Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Education  .  592 

M.  V.  O’’ Shea,  professor  of  the  science  and  art  of  education.  University  of 
Wisconsin . 597 


Special  Papers 

Frederick  E.  Bolton,  professor  of  education.  State  University  of  Iowa 

I.  Requirements  for  High-School  Certification.  II.  The  University  and  the 
College  as  Training-Schools  for  High-School  Teachers.  HI.  Standards  in 
Germany.  IV.  Standards  Suggested  for  American  Schools  ....  600 

Edward  F.  Buchner,  professor  of  philosophy  and  education.  University  of  Alabama. 

The  Professional  Preparation  of  Secondar}'  Teachers  in  the  Fifteen 


Southern  States . 618 

John  W.  Cook,  president  Northern  Illinois  State  Normal  School 

Capacity  and  Limitations  of  the  Normal  School  in  the  Professional  Prepa¬ 
ration  of  High-School  Teachers . 628 

Charles  De  Garmo,  professor  of  the  science  and  art  of  education,  Cornell  University. 

Professional  Training  of  Teachers  for  the  Secondary  Schools  of  Germany  638 
Edwin  G.  Dexter,  professor  of  education.  State  University  of  Illinois 

The  Present  Training  of  Teachers  for  Secondary'  Schools  ....  644 

John  R.  Kirk,  president  of  Missouri  State  Normal  School 


Will  the  Same  Training  in  the  Normal  School  Serve  to  Prepare  the  Teacher 
for  Both  Elementary  and  High-School  Work  ?  . 661 


I  00  I  847 


^  Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/reporttodepartme00nati_0 


J  f 


1 ; 


DEPARTMENT  OE  SECONDARY  EDUCATION 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  SEVENTEEN 

ON 

THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL 

TEACHERS 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  THE  CHAHIMAN,  REUBEN  POST  HALLECK 

The  Secondary  Department  of  Education  at  the  1905  meeting  at  Asbury 
Park,  N.  J.,  voted  that  a  committee  be  appointed  by  the  president  elected  in 
1905,  Dr.  E.  W.  Lyttle,  New  York  state  inspector  of  high  schools,  to  consider 
the  subject  of  securing  proper  professional  preparation  for  high-school  teachers. 
In  accordance  with  this  resolution,  the  following  Committee  of  Seventeen 
was  appointed. 

Reuben  Post  Halleck,  chairman,  principal.  Boys’  High  School,  Louis¬ 
ville,  Ky. 

H.  M.  Barrett,  principal  of  high  school,  Pueblo,  Colo. 

Erederick  E.  Bolton,  professor  of  education.  State  University  of  Iowa. 

Stratton  D.  Brooks,  superintendent  of  schools,  Boston,  Mass. 

J.  Stanley  Brown,  superintendent  of  Joliet,  Ill.,  Township  High  School, 

Edward  E.  Buchner,  professor  of  philosophy  and  education.  University 
of  Alabama.  ' 

John  W.  Cook,  president,  Northern  Illinois  State  Normal  School. 

E.  P.  CuBBERLY,  professor  of  education,  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University. 

Charles  DeGarmo,  professor  of  science  and  art  of  education,  Cornell 
University. 

Edwin  G.  Dexter,  professor  of  education.  University  of  Illinois. 

Paul  H.  Hanus,  professor  of  education.  Harvard  University. 

E.  O.  Holland,  junior  professor  of  education  and  high-school  visitor, 
University  of  Indiana. 

C.  H.  Judd,  professor  of  psychology,  Yale  University. 

John  R.  Kirk,  president,  Missouri  State  Normal  School. 

George  W.  A.  Luckey,  professor  of  Education,  University  of  Nebraska. 

George  H.  Martin,  secretary,  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Education. 

M.  V.  O’Shea,  professor  of  science  and  art  of  education.  University  of 
Wisconsin. 

As  chairman,  I  asked  every  member  of  this  Committee  of  Seventeen  to 

523 


524 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


prepare  a  paper  dealing  with  some  phase  of  this  subject.  Every  one  complied 
with  this  request.  I  am  glad  that  the  National  Education  Association  will 
publish  these  papers  in  a  separate  pamphlet  to  be  known  as  the  “Report  of  the 
Committee  of  Seventeen  on  the  Professional  Preparation  of  High-School 
Teachers.” 

Because  this  subject  is  somew’hat  new,  it  was  thought  wise  to  have  a  large 
committee  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  representing  high  schools, 
normal  schools,  colleges,  post-graduate  departments  of  education,  and  super¬ 
intendents.  The  majority  of  this  committee  have  at  some  time  been  high- 
school  teachers.  Seven  of  the  college  professors  on  it  werq  selected  because 
they  had  actually  taught  in  secondary  schools  and  thus  had  first-hand  experi¬ 
ence  with  the  practical  necessities  of  the  case.  These  men  also  have  the  added 
advantage  of  connection  with  university  schools  of  education.  They  have  for 
some  time  been  considering  what  is  ideal  as  well  as  what  is  practicable  in  the 
training  of  secondary  teachers.  Several  other  members  of  the  committee,  in 
addition  to  the  two  now  connected  with  normal  schools,  were  formerly  normal- 
school  teachers. 

Some  critics  may  object  because  the  members  of  this  committee  do  not 
agree  on  all  points,  but  let  such  remember  that  exact  agreement  in  regard  to 
the  professional  training  of  high-school  teachers  is  not  necessary  for  progress, 
in  fact,  exact  agreement  would  soon  stop  advancement.  Precise  delimita¬ 
tions  of  method  will  probably  be  sought  by  the  pedant,  the  inefficient,  and 
those  who  lack  originality,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  day  is  far  distant  when 
cut-and-dried  methods  of  the  same  type  shall  be  imposed  on  the  secondary 
teachers  of  this  land.  There  may  be — and  there  probably  should  be — 
agreement  on  certain  cardinal  points,  but  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  one  of 
the  reasons  why  progress  in  the  United  States  has  astonished  the  world  is 
because  there  has  been  freer  play  for  individuality  here  than  elsewhere. 

Some  repetition  will  naturally  be  found  among  so  many  papers,  but  even 
when  the  same  point  is  discussed,  the  angle  of  view  is  frequently  different. 
Some  divergence  of  opinion  and  variation  in  the  emphasis  placed  on  certain 
subjects  might  have  been  expected  from  so  many  different  types  of  educators. 
Naturally  those  expressions  of  opinion  in  regard  to  which  all  the  members  of 
this  committee  agree  will  carry  the  most  weight.  In  order  that  readers  might 
gain  more  definite  impressions,  it  seemed  wise  to  select  and  bring  together 
certain  cardinal  points  on  which  there  is  substantial  agreement.  To  decide 
on  these,  the  following  members  met  in  deliberative  session  at  Chicago  on 
February  28  and  March  i,  1907:  Messrs.  Bolton,  Brooks,  Brown,  Buchner, 
Cook,  DeGarmo,  Dexter,  Judd,  Kirk,  Luckey,  O’Shea,  and  the  chairman. 

After  much  discussion,  a  brief  document  was  prepared,  to  be  knovm  as  the 
“  Recommendations  of  the  Committee  of  Seventeen  on  the  Professional  Prepa¬ 
ration  of  High-School  Teachers,”  and  to  be  signed  by  all  the  members  of  the 
committee.  These  recommendations,  which  follow  this  paper,  are  the  result 
of  a  conference  which  respected  whatever  conflicting  views  the  members  held 


Department] 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  SEVENTEEN 


525 


and  which  incorporated  only  those  opinions  in  which  all  who  were  present 
could  concur.  While  these  recommendations  leave  out  some  things  which 
several  would  have  liked  to  see  inserted,  it  is,  nevertheless,  felt  that  they 
represent  a  distinct  advance  over  existing  conditions.  It  was  further  agreed 
that  additional  opinions  and  matters  on  which  the  members  of  the  committee 
could  not  agree  would  receive  sufficient  prominence  in  the  individual  papers 
following  these  recommendations.  Every  member  who  was  at  the  Chicago 
conference  agreed  to  these  recommendations  without  dissent.  Three  of  the 
members  who  were  absent  dissented  on  certain  minor  points,  noted  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  their  names. 

The  chairman  in  this  individual  report  wishes  to  emphasize  what  seems  to 
him  to  be  salient  points.  He  is  willing  to  concede  that  his  views  are  influenced 
by  his  personal  equation  as  an  active  high-school  principal. 

There  was  an  Elizabethan  stage,  which  could  present  Shakspere’s  plays, 
because,  more  than  a  century  previous,  certain  towns  had  rules  like  this  to 
determine  who  should  act  in  the  miracle  plays: — 

All  such  as  they  shall  find  sufficient  in  person  and  cunning,  to  the  honor  of  the  City 
and  worship  of  the  said  Crafts,  for  to  admit  and  able;  and  all  other  insufficient  persons, 
either  in  voice  or  person,  to  discharge,  ammove,  and  avoide. 

The  twentieth  century  must  find  some  means  “to  discharge,  ammove,  and' 
avoide”  all  persons  who  would  make  “insufficient”  teachers,  or  the  profession 
of  high-school  teaching  will  never  rise  to  Elizabethan  greatness.  Possibly 
schools  of  education  might  do  some  of  their  best  work  in  acting  as  a  sieve. 
Every  year  there  are  many  persons  desirous  of  getting  positions  in  high  schools 
whom  all  the  professional  schools  of  education  in  this  country  could  not  fashion 
into  successful  teachers.  The  great  schools  of  art  get  rid  of  many  would-be 
artists.  Professors  of  education,  while  not  infallible,  can  often  tell  that  certain 
personalities  could  not  succeed  in  the  high  school.  It  would  be  a  great  act  of 
kindness  to  many  to  weed  out  such.  There  would  be  joy  among  untold 
adolescents,  if  schools  of  education  would  act  as  a  sort  of  St.  Peter  to  bar  the 
gate  against-  all  the  manifestly  unfit  who  think  they  have  a  “call”  or  who  pro¬ 
posed  to  break  in  uncalled. 

I  .*  No  matter  what  branch  the  high-school  instructor  is  to  teach,  he  ought  to 
know  the  groundwork  of  psychology  and  its  educational  applications.  Prob¬ 
ably  three-quarters  of  the  psychology  taught  in  many  universities  would  be 
about  as  directly  serviceable  to  a  teacher  as  a  fifth  wheel  to  a  coach.  Human 
minds,  nevertheless,  do  not  work  in  a  lawless  way.  It  is  Just  as  necessary 
for  efficient  trainers  of  the  mind  to  know  its  laws  as  for  an  electrical  engineer 
to  be  familiar  with  the  laws  which  electricity  obeys,  before  he  attempts  to 
instal  a  plant.  The  civil  engineer  who  deals  with  certain  materials  spends  a 
long  time  studying  their  resistance.  He  does  not  build  his  bridge  first  and 
then  ascertain  the  qualities  of  his  materials.  He  learns  all  that  he  can  before 

*  The  numerals  tliruout  all  the  papers  mark  those  paragraphs  referred  to  specifically  in~the  “  Joint 
Recommendations.  ” 


526 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


he  starts  his  bridge.  In  the  same  way,  the  high-school  teacher  ought  to  learn 
certain  things  thoroly  about  psychology  before  he  even  begins  to  teach.  This 
is  the  most  important  single  study  in  the  professional 'training  of  the  high- 
school  teacher.  As  an  Irishman  might  say,  it  is  not  so  much  psychology  that 
the  teacher  wants,  as  it  is  educational  psychology.  This  is  something  of  a 
blanket  term,  but  it  includes  any  deductions  or  suggestions,  helpful  to  the 
teacher,  which  can  be  drawn  from  the  main  stream  of  psychology  or  from 
any  of  its  branches  or  subdivisions,  no  matter  whether  genetic,  experimentab 
adolescent,  physiological,  animal,  or  morbid  psychology. 

Some  eminent  psychologists  are  not  very  apt  at  showing  the  applications  of 
their  subject  in  practical  education.  It  is  scarcely  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago  that  an  authority  in  electricity  in  one  of  our  great  universities  said 
that  the  electrical  current  could  never  be  so  subdivided  as  to  make  it  practical 
for  lighting  small  rooms.  Like  some  psychologists,  he  was  too  busy  investi¬ 
gating  and  theorizing  to  stop  to  make  practical  applications  of  his  knowledge. 
When  such  an  application  is  made,  it  usually  is,  like  all  truths  of  greatest  wwth 
so  self-evident  as  to  render  a  formal  statement  of  the  process  almost  offensive 
to  the  theorizer. 

Since  there  has  been  some  skepticism  recently  shown  in  certain  quarters 
about  the  utility  of  psychology  in  this  connection,  it  may  perhaps  not  be  unwise 
here  to  point  out  a  few  ways  in  which  psychology  may  be  made  serviceable 
to  the  secondary  teacher.  In  the  first  place,  the  gateway  to  teaching  pupils 
is'by  means  of  a  nervous  mechanism.  Teachers  ought  to  have  a  clear  working 
knowledge  of  this  mechanism;  of  its  sensory  and  motor  neurones,  and  their 
development,  its  associative  tracts,  the  division  of  labor  in  the  brain,  the  laws 
of  neural  fatigue,  recuperation,  and  nutrition.  They  ought  to  realize  that 
knowledge  of  all  kinds,  at  the  last  analysis,  rests  upon  a  definite  neural  dispo¬ 
sition,  that  Shakspere’s  daffodils  \YPuld  mean  nothing  if  there  had  been  no 
previous  modification  of  nerve  cells  due  to  sensory  stimuli  from  the  flower. 
The  fact  that  the  nervous  system  grows  to  the  mode  in  which  it  is  exercised 
ought  to  be  something  more  than  an  empty  expression.  In  short,  the  writer 
feels  that  teachers  ought  to  have  some  such  working  conception  of  physio¬ 
logical  psychology,  as  he  has  tried  to  give  in  his  Education  oj  the  Central 
Nervous  System  A  The  high-school  teacher  will  then  be  the  better  able  to 
perform  one  of  his  important  functions — that  of  teaching  first-year  pupils  how 
to  study.  Book  study  is  unnatural,  and  the  more  thinking  it  requires,  the 
more  unnatural  it  is.  For  untold  ages,  man  was  trained  by  making  thought 
responses  to  sensory  and  motor  stimuli  or  to  the  vivid  imaginative  recall  of 
such  stimuli.  Many  a  boy  drops  out  of  the  high  school  because  he  has  never 
learned  how  to  concentrate  his  mind  on  Latin  or  algebra.  The  first  step  in 
teaching  him  how  to  study  by  himself  consists  in  giving  him  some  faint  dilu¬ 
tion  of  the  old  sensory  and  motor  stimuli  to  which  the  brains  of  his  progeni¬ 
tors  were  accustomed.  These  stimuli  will  be  like  the  scaffolding  employed 

*  The  MacmDlan  Co.,  New  York. 


Department] 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  SEVENTEEN 


in  building  a  house,  and  they  may  later  be  dispensed  with.  If  a  boy  studying 
his  Latin  forms  is  given  a  lead  pencil  and  asked  to  write  them  out,  a  new 
stimulus  is  applied  to  two  different  parts  of  his  brain.  The  motor  tract  con¬ 
cerned  in  writing  is  set  in  action  and  the  black  marks  appeal  visually  to  the 
occipital  lobe.  If  he  repeats  the  forms  aloud,  the  speech  center  in  the  third 
frontal  convolution  and  the  auditory  center  in  the  temporal  lobe  are  stimu¬ 
lated.  Such  stimuli  help  to  anchor  his  attention  and  enable  him  to  continue 
at  his  task.  Some  knowledge  of  physiological  psychology  is  needed  to  afford 
intelligent  guidance  and  to  furnish  philosophical  explanation  for  insistence  on 
certain  methods. 

Experimental  psychology  has  filled  many  pages  with  matter  useless  to 
the  teacher,  yet  it  has  given  to  pedagogy  a  number  of  facts  of  great  value. 
For  instance,  no  teacher  can  use  the  time  of  pupils  economically  unless  he 
knows  the  saving  in  interrupted  repetitions  in  learning  certain  things.  Experi¬ 
mental  psychology  has  shown  that  the  number  of  consecutive  repetitions 
necessary  for  mastery  in  certain  cases  is  far  greater  than  when  these  repeti¬ 
tions  are  separated  by  a  certain  interval  of  time,  and  that  40  per  cent, 
of  time  and  energy  may  sometimes  be  saved  by  not  insisting  on  absolute 
mastery  at  one  attack. 

Further  experiment  has  shown ^that  the  central  nervous  system  has  peculiar 
laws  of  its  own  in  showing  progressive  stages  of  acquired  adaptation  and  skill. 
The  pupil  climbs  the  stairs  rapidly  for  awhile  with  some  new  acquisition,  then 
there  is  a  long  landing  where  he  remains  on  a  dead  level,  while  the  teacher 
grows  discouraged  and  scolds  and  perhaps  disheartens  the  pupil.  Then  there 
is  another  rapid  ascent,  followed  by  another  horizontal  plane.  A  knowledge 
of  such  laws  in  neural  development  would  make  more  effective  teachers  and 
happier  pupils. 

It  is  time  that  a  new  term  was  coined  in  educational  psychology,  the 
“  psychology  of  difficulty.”  If  teachers  were  grounded  in  this  branch,  they 
would  be  less  often  swept  off  their  balance  by  “easy”  methods  and  tasks. 
The  psychology  of  difficulty  tells  us  that  what  is  popularly  known  as  the 
“easiest”  road  between  two  places  is  seldom  the  best  psychological  road, 
that  while  a  straight  line  is  the  shortest  geometrical  distance  between  two 
points,  such  a  line  is  seldom  the  shortest  psychological  distance.  Experi¬ 
mental  psychology  showed  us  long  ago  that  consciousness,  like  the  greatest 
captains  of  industry,  whose  hours  are  precious,  saves  its  time  and  energy  by 
erecting  about  itself  certain  barriers  which  interfere  with  any  straight  line 
access.  Many  stimuli  from  light  and  sound  and  odor  are  not  allowed  to  cross 
the  “threshold  of  attention.”  Effective  attention  can  be  secured  only  by 
strong  stimuli.  The  day  that  it  ceased  to  protect  itself  against  weaklings, 
its  efficiency  would  cease.  The  most  of  us  have  to  be  told  a  thing  vigorously 
in  three  different  ways  and  then  knocked  down  by  experience  before  we 
really  learn  a  new  truth. 

Psychologists  promptly  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  not  the  spelling 


528 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


of  the  hardest  words  which  is  most  often  forgotten.  “Chicago’’  and  “knowl¬ 
edge”  will  be  misspelled  less  often  than  “confectionery”  and  “separate” 
because  the  human  mind  will  not  put  forth  its  strongest  prehensile  powers 
except  when  confronted  with  a  difficulty.  The  Anglo-Saxon  race  did  not 
develop  under  tropical  skies  with  easy  problems.  The  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  settling  New  England  may  even  at  this  distance  cause  tender  hearts  to  ache, 
but  climates  and  subjects  may  be  too  “easy.”  The  Spanish  language  is  very 
easily  spelled  and  learned  with  comparatively  small  effort,  and  this  brings  us 
to  the  arithmetical  problem:  “ If  we  find  one  Shakspere  using  a  hard  language 
like  the  English,  how  many  should  we  find  using  the  Spanish  language,  only 
one-third  as  hard?”  High-school  teachers  need  to  learn  that  Anglo-Saxon 
adolescents  do  not  like  easy  things.  They  prefer  football  to  marbles,  to  the 
intense  astonishment  of  tropical  races. 

Many  high-school  teachers  make  themselves  and  their  principals  a  vast 
amount  of  extra  work  in  discipline  and  also  fail  to  get  the  best  results  because 
they  do  not  know  the  psychology  of  suggestion.  It  is  usual  to  call  persons 
fools  who,  after  an  accident  with  a  weapon,  claim  that  they  did  not  know  that 
it  was  loaded.  Ideas,  like  firearms,  are  loaded,  the  ideas  more  often  than  the 
firearms.  For  a  teacher,  the  best  practical  working  definition  of  an  idea  is 
“a  hint  to  do  something.”  To  emphasize  the  importance  of  suggestion, 
teachers  should  learn  something  of  hypnotism.  So  far  as  manipulating  sug¬ 
gestive  ideas  is  concerned,  every  teacher  of  adolescents  must  learn  to  be 
something  of  a  hypnotist.  People  of  individuality,  who  leave  their  impress 
on  those  around  them  are  always  suggestive.  The  psychological  relation 
between  suggestion  and  initiative  is  of  the  closest  kind. 

The  modern  proverb,  “  If  you  don’t  see  what  you  want,  want  what  you  see,” 
brings  us  to  another  point  of  educational  psychology,  important  for  the  second¬ 
ary  teacher.  Certain  teachers  and  salesmen  are  gifted  at  making  pupils 
and  customers  want  what  they  see.  Such  are  worth  their  weight  in  gold. 
Psychology  gives  us  the  conditions  of  making  people  want  what  they  see.  We 
study  these  conditions,  variously  labeled  as  the  psychology  of  interest  or  of 
feeling.  The  psychology  of  imagination  and  of  thinking  are  also  necessary 
in  this  same  process,  while  the  psychology  of  will  conditions  all  else  for  the 
educator. 

2.  A  study  of  apperception,  or  of  that  process  under  some  other  synony¬ 
mous  name,  ought  to  furnish  a  philosophical  reason  why  the  high-school 
teacher  should  not  be  merely  a  narrow  specialist,  but  a  person  of  broad  cul¬ 
ture.  We  see  things  not  as  the  things  are,  but  as  we  are.  If  we  are  narrow 
we  shall  see  great  things  small;  we  shall  see  only  a  microscopic  section  of  the 
pupil’s  life  and  interests;  and  we  shall  magnify  our  petty  specialty  out  of  all 
proportion  to  its  relation  to  many-sided  life.  We  must  be  broadly  educated 
so  that  we  can  determine  the  educational  value  of  the  different  studies  and 
know  what  instruments  of  learning  to  employ  in  order  to  introduce  rich¬ 
ness  and  harmony  and  avoid  discord  in  the  educational  orchestra.  The 


Department] 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  SEVENTEEN 


529 


high-school  teacher,  above  all,  needs  to  be  responsive  to  all  those  influences 
which  give  variety  to  life,  which  quicken  the  imagination,  which  bring  him 
into  sympathetic  touch  with  the  lives  of  others.  You  cannot  send  the  whole 
child  to  school,  unless  the  whole  teacher  has  gone  to  school.  Any  training  which 
binds  with  dwarfish  hands  even  the  sweet  influence  of  the  Pleiades  on  his  life 
will  render  him  a  less-inspiring  teacher.  He  is  dealing  with  those  who  are 
looking  forward  to  a  wonderful  voyage  of  discovery  to  a  new  western  world. 
He  furnishes  the  incentive  to  that  voyage;  he  superintends  the  preparation 
for  it.  In  powder  to  make  or  mar,  he  is  only  a  little  lower  than  the  angels. 

Finally,  a  careful  study  of  educational  psychology  will  help  high-school 
teachers  to  form  independent  judgments  when  confronted  with  some  new  method 
or  proposition  and  will  further  enable  them  to  make  valuable  suggestions  to 
teachers  in  the  grades  and  to  parents.  A  high-school  instructor  in  English, 
for  instance,  finds  that  his  pupils  come  to  him  such  bad  spellers  as  to  be  unable 
to  get  a  good  business  position.  When  he  complains,  he  is  told  by  the  graded 
teachers  that  scientific  experiments  have  shown  that  those  grades  wEich  have 
no  specific  instruction  in  spelling  send  out  as  good  spellers  as  come  from  schools 
where  spelling  is  a  daily  set  task.  He  starts  to  ascertain  the  facts  and  finds 
that  such  has  proved  the  case  in  a  city  wEere  a  few  schools  from  the  entire 
number  omitted  specific  drill  in  spelling  and  taught  it  only  incidentally  for  a 
few  years.  If  he  has  been  grounded  in  scientific  method — and  every  high- 
school  teacher  should  he  grounded  in  rigorous  scientific  method  as  a  part  of  his 
indispensable  professional  preparation — he  soon  notes  that  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  estimate  certain  factors  accurately.  Did  the  novelty  of  the  situation 
in  those  special  schools  arouse  every  teacher  to  pay  far  more  attention  to  the 
spelling  of  words  which  came  up  naturally,  no  matter  in  what  branch  or  con¬ 
nection  ?  Did  every  teacher  feel  more  intensely  that  the  children  of  those 
special  schools  must  not  be  allowed  to  fall  behind  in  comparison  with  other 
schools  ?  Did  the  new  situation  make  the  parents  feel  that  added  responsibility 
was  thrust  upon  them  ?  Would  the  state  of  affairs  have  been  precisely  the 
same  if  the  entire  city  had  abandoned  specific  spelling  lessons,  if  there  had  been 
no  rivalry,  and  if  the  novelty  had  completely  worn  away  ? 

He  soon  realizes  that  it  is  impossible  to  answer  these  questions  with  absolute 
accuracy,  but  his  educational  psychology  has  taught  him  to  recognize  whatever 
advantage  there  is  in  this  claim  and  to  be  on  his  guard  against  expecting  results 
in  conflict  with  mental  law’s.  While  general  psychology  has  taught  him  that 
repetition  is  one  of  the  chief  foundation  stones  of  memory,  educational  psychol¬ 
ogy  has  indelibly  impressed  on  him  the  more  important  fact  that  energy  in  the 
mental  state  is  far  more  effective  in  securing  memory  than  mere  uninterested, 
somnolent  repetition,  and  that  interest  is  not  only  one  of  the  indispensable 
factors  of  energy,  but  that  interest  is  the  divine  mother  of  all  w’orld-compelling 
energy.  He  has  learned  theoretically  wEat  usually  happens  w’hen  an  educa¬ 
tional  gunner  fires  at  a  mark  outside  of  the  range  of  interest,  and  he  sees  spelling, 
as  a  rule,  taught  in  a  perfunctory  w^ay.  Even  theoretical  educational  psychol- 


53° 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


ogy  will  teach  him  that  interest  and  enthusiasm  are  as  catching  as  smallpox, 
catching  even  in  spelling,  if  a  live  teacher,  who  has  breathed  the  breath  of  life 
into  his  pupils,  has  them  spell  only  live  words.  He  then  is  thoroughly  compe¬ 
tent  to  say  that  some  may  teach  spelling  incidentally  far  better  than  others 
from  a  specific  list.  His  knowledge  of  psychology  and  of  scientific  method 
forbids  him  to  make  a  more  sweeping  statement  which  might  lead  some  astray. 
Such  h’gh-school  teachers  have  been  known  to  change  the  attitude  of  an  entire 
c'ty  in  the  teaching  of  English,  by  insisting  on  the  simple  law  of  energy  and 
interest — that  a  child  should  spell  when  there  was  something  to  spell,  talk  when 
there  was  someth  ng  to  say,  write  when  there  was  something  to  communicate, 
and  that  the  teacher  should  be  responsible  for  providing  the  interest  and  the 
occasion,  just  as  an  intelligent  parent  succeeded  in  getting  two  of  the  laziest 
boys  in  the  city  to  clear  his  garden  of  stones,  by  putting  in  the  comer  a  mark  at 
which  they  could  throw.  Other  teachers  have  little  fuss  and  feathers  with 
Latin  or  modern  language  forms  after  a  few  months,  because  these  teachers 
know  and  apply  the  psychological  truth  that  energy  and  interest  are  natural 
qualifies  in  a  mental  state  when  dealing  w’th  new  matter,  as  well  as  with  any¬ 
thing  demanded  by  the  present  logical  necessities  of  the  case.  Those  teachers 
who  let  the  golden  time  of  novelty  pass  without  utilizing  to  the  utmost  the  men¬ 
tal  energy  then  liberated  are  like  the  landsman  who  waited  to  sail  his  boat  out 
of  the  harbor  unt'l  after  the  breeze  had  died  away.  The  teacher  grounded 
in  modern  educational  psychology  will  have  an  advantage  over  the  one  who 
discovers  the  right  method  through  experience  alone.  He  will  know  why  and 
when  to  do  a  certain  thing  and  not  stumble  blindly  on  the  right  process. 
In  short,  increased  efficiency  and  leadership  may  be  expected  from  the  high- 
school  teacher  who  has  made  a  thoughtful  study  of  educational  psychology, 
accompanied  by  training  in  scientific  method. 

Professional  training  is  strictly  not  concerned  with  the  subject-matter,  as 
mere  original  information,  but  only  with  that  matter  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  high-school  teacher,  or  more  strictly  still,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
high-school  pupil. 

3.  This  difference  between  a  knowledge  of  the  subject-matter  and  the  re¬ 
casting  it  to  fit  the  pupil’s  mind,  however  self-evident  it  must  seem  to  every  psy¬ 
chologist,  is  not  yet  generally  appreciated  by  high-school  teachers  or  their  college 
instructors.  This  difference  is  as  great  as  the  difference  between  a  side  of 
leather  in  a  wholesale  store  and  a  part  of  that  same  leather  cut  out  by  a  skilful 
shoemaker  to  fit  a  certain  person’s  foot.  “Knowledge  is  knowledge,”  says 
the  university  specialist.  ‘‘All  that  is  necessary  is  to  give  the  high-school 
teacher  plenty  of  knowledge  and  his  pupils  will  get  it.”  Yards  of  silk  are 
yards  of  silk.  All  that  is  necessary  is  for  a  woman  to  give  her  dressmaker 
plenty  of  goods  and  a  dress  will  be  forthcoming.  Why,  then,  will  women 
gladly  pay  certain  dressmakers  three  times  as  much  as  others  to  make  up 
precisely  the  same  dress  pattern  ?  Such  a  question  would  seem  childish  to 
every  woman  who  has  had  “trouble  with  her  dressmaker.”  This  question 


Department] 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  SEVENTEEN 


531 


would  seem  more  childish  in  this  connection  if  it  was  not  for  the  fact  that  so 
many  university  professors  are  today  claiming  that  knowledge  is  the  prime 
requisite,  that  other  things  will  take  care  of  themselves. 

4.  The  first  necessity  for  the  high-school  teacher  is,  of  course,  ample  knowl¬ 
edge,  If  he  is  to  teach  Latin,  for  instance,  he  should  be  a  better  teacher  for 
studying  it  four  years  in  a  high  school  and  four  years  in  college.  A  teacher  in 
the  academic  department  of  a  high  school  should  not  only  have  a  degree  from 
a  reputable  college,  but  he  should  also  have  given  special  study  to  any  subject 
which  he  expects  to  teach.  If  no  absolute  number  of  years  can  be  assigned 
for  subjects  as  various  as  Latin,  bookkeeping,  and  manual  training,  the  teacher 
specialist  should  be  guided  by  the  general  rule  that  he  ought  to  study  his  branch 
until  he  can  survey  it  as  a  whole,  keep  in  mind  at  one  time  its  parts,  decide 
what  may  be  omitted  without  detriment,  and  have  confidence  in  his  own  opinion 
on  any  points  raised  in  connection  with  his  subject.  Without  such  a  mastery, 
it  ought  not  to  be  possible  for  a  high-school  teacher  to  get  a  certificate.  His 
certificate  should  be  issued  only  for  those  special  subjects  in  which  he  has 
adequate  scholarship. 

5.  Every  high-school  teacher  ought  to  have  a  definite  course  in  recasting  his 
subject  from  the  pupil’s  point  oLview.  A  Ph.D.  may  chafe  at  having  to  learn 
his  subject  over  under  such  restrictions,  but  why  should  he  chafe  any  more 
than  a  plumber,  who  comes  to  your  home  with  an  ample  supply  of  pipe  and 
joints  which  do  not  fit,  chafes  at  being  sent  back  to  the  shop  for  suitable 
material?  Why  should  the  Ph.D.  not  expect  to  submit  to  the  same  earthly 
laws  which  every  successful  tailor,  farmer,  cook,  and  manufacturer  must  obey  ? 
The  teacher  must  fit  the  pupil’s  mind.  Misfit  knowledge  discourages  the 
pupil,  perplexes  him,  and  frequently  causes  him  to  stop  school.  High-school 
teachers  have  often  been  heard  to  repeat  precisely  the  same  explanation  four 
or  five  times  to  a  wretched  pupil,  making  no  attempt  to  find  a  different  route 
into  his  mind,  or  to  lodge  the  fact  there  by  slow  stages,  resting  patiently  on 
successive  landings. 

This  point  of  working  over  one’s  store  of  knowledge  so  that  it  can  be 
intelligently  communicated  to  the  pupil  and  assimilated  by  him  is  as  important 
as  getting  that  knowledge  in  the  first  place.  Universities  and  schools  of  educa¬ 
tion  ought,  for  a  while  at  least,  until  the  full  importance  of  such  a  distinction 
is  recognized,  to  keep  sharply  separate  those  courses  which  give  new  informa¬ 
tion  to  the  student  and  those  which  teach  him  how  to  adapt  to  growing  minds 
the  information  which  he  already  has. 

5a.  There  are  two  practical  ways  that  may  be  employed  in  training  high- 
school  teachers  to  acquire  their  specialty  a  second  time  from  the  learner’s  point 
of  view.  The  first,  which  should  be  used  in  every  case,  is  to  have  professors  of 
education  who  can  take  the  pupil’s  point  of  view  and  become  children 
again,  just  for  that  course.  The  candidate  should  then  be  required  to 
present  the  subject-matter  under  those  limitations.  For  successful  results, 
professors  of  education  must  be  found  who  are  capable  of  taking  the  adol- 


532 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


escent’s  point  of  view,  men  who  are  not  desiccated,  who  have  their  own 
youth  well  in  memory,  and  who  subject  their  own  methods  to  the  touchstone  of 
that  memory.  Such  men  will  instruct  the  future  high-school  teacher  to  see 
how  much  he  can  possibly  omit  from  every  textbook,  without  impairing  its 
logical  sequence,  and  how  much  he  needs  to  add  to  make  that  sequence  com¬ 
prehensible  and  vivid  to  pupils.  The  teacher  should  realize  that  the  author 
of  every  secondary  textbook  is  swayed,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  by  what 
adult  critics  will  say  of  its  completeness  and  logical  methods,  and  that  there  will 
consequently  be  introduced  matter  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  average 
high-school  student.  The  teacher  must  learn  to  note  and  reject  this  adult 
matter. 

56.  He  should  alsobe  taught  to  repeat  to  himself  with  all  reverence  thisprayer 
every  morning  before  he  enters  the  high-school  room:  “Give  me  this  day 
sufficient  sense  and  sympathy  to  realize  that  what  appears  to  me  easy,  logical 
sequence,  only  because  I  am  a  specialist  in  that  branch,  may  seem  absolutely 
meaningless  jargon  to  an  adolescent.  Make  me  to  feel  that  one  taste  of 
victory  over  high-school  subject-matter  is  worth  a  hundred  defeats,  yea,  that 
victory  and  hope  and  continuance  in  school  are  adolescent  synonyms,  and 
that  a  general’s  fame  is  not  built  on  the  defeat  of  his  troops.  Teach  me  to  be 
less  wise  in  my  own  conceit  and  give  me  the  social  grace  to  realize  that  if  I 
am  to  travel  in  the  golden  clime  of  adolescence,  I  must  at  least  learn  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  that  country  and  avoid  what  may  seem  to  its  inhabitants  a  barbaric 
tongue.  Bestow  on  me  the  saving  grace  of  humor  sufficient  to  keep  me  from 
over-stressing  any  point  and  from  becoming  shrill.  Grant  me  also  the  capacity 
to  be  as  easily  bored  as  the  children  of  that  rapidly  changing  land  of  spring¬ 
time.  And,  finally,  enable  me  every  day  to  look  through  the  eyes  of  adolescence 
at  a  new  world  bathed  in  a  light  that  never  was  on  land  or  sea.  Amen.” 

6.  The  second  method  consists  in  giving  candidates  what  our  medical  friends 
call  “hospital  practice”  on  actual  adolescents.  For  the  sake  of  the  children, 
previous  preparation  should  reduce  to  the  least  possible  minimum  the  evils 
necessarily  resulting  from  such  a  course.  Some  such  practice  is  indispensable. 
This  may  be  had  (i)  in  a  secondary  school  maintained  by  a  university  for 
that  special  purpose;  (2)  in  the  schools  in  the  town  or  city  in  which  the  uni¬ 
versity  is  situated;  (3)  in  distant  high  schools.  For  a  careful  study  of  what 
is  actually  being  accomplished  by  the  first  two  methods.  Professor  Dexter’s 
excellent  paper  should  be  read.  The  third  method  has  for  some  time  been 
employed  in  an  increasing  degree  during  the  last  few  years  by  superintendents 
and  high-school  principals  all  over  the  country.  These  inexperienced  teachers 
are  watched,  advised,  and  given  a  chance  as  often  as  possible  to  visit  the  class¬ 
rooms  of  the  best  teachers  in  the  school.  The  majority  of  those  who  have  had 
experience  in  secondary  schools  would  probably  agree  that  practice  in  teaching 
in  the  grades  would  not  take  the  place  of  experience  in  the  high  school,  and 
that  the  two  schools  must  differ  widely  in  methods.  A  study  of  the  psychology 
of  adolescence  should  make  this  point  plain.  The  papers  of  Messrs.  Barrett, 


Department] 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTER  OF  SEVENTEEN 


533 


Bolton,  Cook,  DeGarmo,  Kirk,  and  Martin  will  show  some  divergence  of 
opinion. 

7.  In  this  connection,  however,  we  should  note  that  there  can  be  no  dispute 
about  the  truth  that  a  high-school  teacher’s  academic  and  professional  training 
should  be  conditioned  largely  by  the  special  subjects  which  he  is  to  teach,  and 
that  practice  in  teaching  Latin  would  not  make  a  skilful  teacher  of  physics. 

Pedagogical  hospital  practice  for  teachers  of  adolescents,  in  some  form  or 
other,  is  as  old  as  Adam.  It  is  yet  in  its  infancy  in  systematic  scientific  appli¬ 
cation  in  the  training  of  secondary  teachers.  The  next  ten  years  will  prob¬ 
ably  show  what  special  secondary  training-schools  can  and  cannot  accomplish. 
The  members  of  this  committee  regret  that  these  schools  are  not  farther 
evolved  at  this  time,  and  that  the  data  based  solely  on  practice  in  conducting 
them  is  at  present  so  limited.’ 

8.  Every  prospective  high-school  teacher  should  be  encouraged  to  spend  at 
least  one  post-graduate  year  in  some  university  school  of  education,  engaged 
in  professional  preparation  for  teaching.  Where  this  is  not  possible,  at  least 
one-eighth  of  his  under-graduate  work  should  be  devoted  to  such  professional 
branches.  This  recommendation  was  submitted  for  criticism  by  a  high- 
school  principal  to  a  group  of  twenty  excellent  men,  all  of  them  experienced 
high-school  teachers. 

“Is  this  rule  for  men  or  for  women?”  sixteen  of  them  asked. 

“For  both,”  was  the  reply. 

“Well,  this  rule  would  have  disposed  of  us,”  replied  the  sixteen,  “for  none  of  us 
intended  to  become  teachers  early  enough  to  shape  our  college  course  in  conformity  with 
such  requirements.  If  we  had  been  compelled  to  take  a  post-graduate  year,  we  should  have 
done  something  else.” 

Their  principal  shifted  uneasily  in  his  chair,  for  he  realized  that  among 
those  sixteen  men  there  were  enough  born  teachers  to  make  a  reputation  for 
almost  any  school.  It  may  be  true  that  comparatively  few  of  the  many  born 
teachers  ever  enter  the  profession  of  teaching,  even  under  the  easiest  require¬ 
ments.  Careful  investigation  should  determine  whether  these  same  easy 
requirements  do  not  drive  out  the  fit  teachers,  under  a  sort  of  pedagogical 
Gresham’s  law,  that  a  legalized  cheap  instrument,  to  be  used  on  other  people, 
will  drive  out  a  dearer  instrument,  in  the  same  way  that  a  debt  will  be  paid  in 
the  cheaper  money,  if  two  standards  are  in  circulation. 

It  is  plain  that  in  the  case  of  men,  such  a  rule  should  not  be  passed,  unless 
as  some  of  us  think,  it  would  be  a  step  toward  making  high-school  teaching  as 
much  of  a  profession  as  either  law  or  medicine  and  as  well  rewarded.  Even 
these  desiderata  would  not  be  sufficient  to  tempt  the  best  men  unless  their 
tenure  of  office  was  certain,  unless  they  could  have  freedom  for  their  different 
individualities,  and  escape  the  apron  strings  of  too  much  supervision. 

Many  first-class  women  might  conform  to  stringent  requirements  only 
because  fewer  ways  of  earning  a  living  are  open  to  them.  It  is  certainly  not 
the  wish  of  this  committee  to  suggest  requirements  which  would  keep  the  best 


534 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


men  from  becoming  high-school  teachers.  In  Germany  the  secondary 
teacher  must  have  eighteen  years  of  preliminary  study  and  practice;  three 
years  in  the  primary  school,  nine  in  the  gymnasium,  three  in  the  university, 
one  in  passing  the  state  examinations,  one  in  the  seminary,  and  one  in  trial 
teaching.  Even  then  there  are  generally  two  applicants  for  every  place,  but 
there  is  no  competition  on  the  part  of  women. ^  The  caste  system  in  Germany 
is  such,  the  population  so  dense,  the  opportunity  of  rising  in  varied  ways  so 
few,  that  the  young  men  of  the  United  States  cannot  be  expected  to  be  willing 
to  follow  Germany  as  a  pattern. 

Every  secondary-school  teacher  ought  to  have  as  a  part  of  his  regular 
professional  training  either  a  course  under  a  library  expert  or  under  someone 
capable  of  giving  instruction  in  recommending  general  reading  for  adolescents. 
The  future  teacher  should  learn  the  point  of  view  of  different  types  of  adoles¬ 
cents  and  be  able  to  suggest  books  interesting  to  them  all  in  all  branches. 
No  teacher  ought  to  receive  a  high-school  certificate  unless  he  is  able  to 
recommend  stimulating  and  interesting  books  on  subjects  as  various  as 
astronomy,  inventions,  history,  animals,  literature,  adventure,  poetry,  flowers, 
Indians,  and  travel.  He  should  know  better  than  his  pedagogy  books  like 
The  Prince  and  the  Pauper,  The  Jungle  Book,  The  Oregon  Trail,  Astronomy 
with  an  Opera  Glass,  Tenting  on  the  Plains,  The  Bar  Sinister,  Lives  of  the 
Hunted,  Hero  Tales  from  American  History,  and  suitable  poetry  selected 
from  a  wide  range.  Boys  and  girls  have,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  decided 
before  leaving  their  teens  what  the  bulk  of  the  reading  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives  shall  be,  in  fact,  whether  they  shall  read  anything  except  novels.  Libra¬ 
rians  say  that  the  majority  of  all  reading  is  done  by  young  people  before 
tw’enty.  The  experience  of  the  world,  its  joys  and  sorrow,  are  bequeathed  to 
us  thru  books.  By  them,  Shakspere,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh.  Woe  to  the 
boy  or  girl  who  leaves  the  high  school  without  a  taste  for  reading.  Every 
decade  or  so  sees  the  hours  of  the  laborer  shortened.  What  shall  he  do  with 
his  spare  time  ?  This  becomes  a  question  of  increasing  importance.  The 
saloon,  the  poolroom,  and  the  card-table  will  have  less  attractions  for  the  one 
whose  teachers  have  given  him  a  love  for  reading.  The  teacher  who  has  not 
made  a  special  study  of  reading  for  adolescents  cannot  do  his  best  in  implanting 
such  a  love.  Unless  he  supplements  this  special  training  during  each  subse¬ 
quent  year  of  his  teaching-life  by  reading  at  the  very  least  three  adolescent 
books,  he  will  gradually  lose  <both  the  capacity  and  the  inclination  to  direct 
the  outside  reading  of  his  pupils. 

9.  The  professional  training  of  the  high-school  teacher  ought  to  show  him 
the  best  methods  of  character-building,  of  establishing  our  boys  and  girls  on 
firm  moral  foundations.  More  than  anything  else,  this  should  be  made  the 
subject  of  scientific  study.  The  teacher  should  investigate  the  neural  basis 
of  habit,  and  its  relation  to  morality  of  the  higher  type.  He  should  learn  why 

*  Professor  DeGarmo’s  paper  (No.  XV)  on  “The  Professional  Training  of  Teachers  for  the  Secondary 
Schools  of  Germany”  should^be  read  in^this  connection. 


Department] 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  SEVENTEEN 


535 


“character,”  “regularity,”  and  “thoroness”  are  largely  synonymous  terms. 
He  should  be  taught  how  to  select  noble  ideals  from  history,  literature,  and  the 
life  around  him.  He  should  know  the  tremendous  power  of  suggestion  for 
morality  and  immorality.  He  should  learn  what  appeals  especially  to  adoles¬ 
cents  and  he  should  skilfully  plan  to  enlist  their  interests,  their  likes  and  dis¬ 
likes  on  the  side  of  morality.  Some  of  the  great  masters  of  secondary  schools 
have  kept  their  pupils  marching  to  the  music  of  noble  ideals  until  that  way  of 
marching  has  become  a  habit.  The  state  certainly  has  a  right  to  demand 
that,  in  return  for  the  vast  outlay  for  secondary  education,  the  pupils  shall  come 
out  of  school  with  higher  moral  ideals  than  when  they  entered.  Ethics  and 
sociology  should  be  taught  together.  A  knowledge  of  what  is  ethical  should 
be  put  in  immediate  practice  in  doing  something  for  one’s  neighbor.  If  it  is 
important  that  the  academic  knowledge  of  the  high-school  teacher  should 
be  recast  and  revised  so  as  to  render  it  capable  of  being  assimilated  by  the 
minds  of  his  pupils,  it  is  far  more  important  that  everything  connected  with 
the  high-school  curriculum  should  be  scientifically  studied  from  the  point  of 
view  of  its  effect  on  character.  Such  study  has  already  proceeded  far  enough 
to  prove  that  we  have  often  put  the  greatest  emphasis  where  it  least  belongs. 
During  the  next  twenty-five  years  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  scientific  study  of 
education  will  show  vast  progress  in  giving  practical  directions  for  building 
moral  foundations  which  will  withstand  the  floods  of  temptation  and  also 
show  more  forcibly  that  intellectual  foundations  alone  are  but  sand.  The 
nation  is  now  demanding  this  of  its  educators  more  than  ever  before.  There 
are  already  signs  of  progress  in  this  direction,  but  practical  ethics  does  not 
yet  rest  on  as  firm  a  scientific  foundation  as  the  intellectual  processes  in  build¬ 
ing  bridges  or  improved  methods  in  teaching  chemistry. 

lo.  For  lack  of  space,  a  few  additional  points  which  the  professional  training 
of  the  high-school  teacher  should  emphasize  must  be  compressed  into  one 
paragraph.  The  candidate  should  learn  something  of  school  administration, 
since  he  must  work  with  others  and  be  a  part  of  the  commonwealth.  He 
should  know  something  of  the  evolution  of  the  secondary  school  and  also  the 
evolution  of  the  methods  of  teaching  his  own  special  branch.  He  should  be 
able  to  orient  the  work  of  the  entire  school  and  to  have  a  clear  idea  of  what  a 
well-rounded  secondary  school  should  accomplish.  He  should  be  able  to 
weigh  judicially  the  claims  of  both  the  so-called  cultural  and  vocational 
subjects.  He  should  read  some  educational  classics  and  biographies  of  the 
great  educators  and  catch  from  them  on  the  personal  side  greater  enthusiasm 
for  his  profession.  He  should  recognize  the  importance  of  being  thoro,  the 
dangers  of  superficiality,  “sight-reading,”  and  of  too  hasty  inference  or 
shrewd  guesswork.  To  this  end  he  should  have  careful  training  in  some  one 
science,  grow  to  respect  scientific  method,  and  learn  that  character  and  thoro¬ 
ness  are  closely  related. 

The  chairman  would  emphasize  the  importance  of  reading  all  the  papers 
which  follow.  This  is  necessary  to  obtain  a  well-rounded  view,  for  no  single 


536 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


member  of  this  committee  has  attempted  to  treat  all  the  points  involved  in 
this  comparatively  new  subject.  The  chairman  desires  to  thank  all  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  this  committee  for  the  interest  which  they  have  taken  in  this  question 
and  the  hard  work  which  they  have  given  to  it.  He  wishes  specially  to  thank 
Messrs.  Brooks,  Dexter,  and  DeGarmo,  who,  with  himself,  were  members 
of  a  preliminary  executive  committee.  This  executive  committee  read  all  of 
the  papers,  compared  the  points  made,  and  studied  for  some  time  how  best  to 
frame  a  set  of  ‘‘Recommendations,”  sufficiently  unified,  it  is  hoped,  to  leave 
a  clear  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  reader.  Without  the  unusually  efficient 
work  of  these  three  men,  the  following  “Recommendations”  would  never  have 
taken  such  simple  shape.  The  drudgery  which  they  cheerfudy  consented  to 
undergo  to  present  something  definite,  as  well  as  something  acceptable  to  all 
the  members,  may  not  appear  on  the  surface,  but  it  was  certainly  drudgery. 
The  chairman  wishes  further  to  thank  Superintendent  Brooks  for  suggesting, 
making,  and  verifying  the  numerical  references  in  the  “Recommendations” 
which  follow: 

To  Dr.  E.  W.  Lyttle,  state  inspector  of  high  schools  for  New  York  and  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  Department  of  Secondary  Education,  1905-07,  the  thanks  of  every¬ 
one  interested  in  this  subject  are  due.  His  zeal  in  the  field  of  secondary  educa¬ 
tion,  his  familiarity  with  it  on  both  the  theoretical  and  the  practical  side,  and 
his  sympathy  with  the  work  of  this  committee,  which  he  appointed,  made  his 
suggestions  and  counsel  invaluable  to  the  chairman.  Dr.  Lyttle  certainly 
can  point  to  work  done  by  the  Department  of  Secondary  Educa.ion  under  his 
leadership. 


JOINT  RECOMMENDATIONS  OE  THE  COMMITTEE  OF 
SEVENTEEN  ON  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION 
OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 
The  committee  on  the  preparation  of  high-school  teachers  recommend: 

I.  That  the  academic  preparation  include  the  following  elements: 

A.  A  detailed  and  specialized  study  of  the  subjects  to  be  taught. 

The  program  of  studies  selected  by  each  student  should  include  work  in  subjects 
outside  of  those  in  which  he  is  making  special  preparation,  sufficient  to  give  some  insight 
into  the  different  fields  of  knowledge  and  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  over-specialization. 

I  Barrett,  2,  3;  Brooks,  2;  Brown,  2;  Cubberley,  2;  Halleck,  2,  4;  Holland,  3; 
Hanus,  2,  3,  4;  Judd,  3;  Luckey,  8;  O’Shea,  3. 

B.  One  or  more  subjects  from  a  group  including  history,  economics,  and  sociology, 

which  will  give  the  teacher  a  proper  outlook  upon  the  social  aspects  of  educa¬ 
tion. 

Barrett,  6;  Brooks,  4;  Martin,  6;  O’Shea,  4. 

C.  A  course  in  general  psychology  and  at  least  one  from  n.  group  of  subjects  includ¬ 

ing  history  of  philosophy,  logics,  and  ethics,  which  will  give  the  teacher 
a  proper  outlook  upon  education  as  the  development  of  the  individual. 

‘  The  references  are  to  the  paragraph  numbers  in  the  papers  of  this  Committee.  Only  those  paragraphs 
are  numbered  which  fall  under  the  heads  given  in  these  joint  “Recommendations.”  Failure  to  number  a 
paragraph  does  not  imply  that  it  is  not  important. 


Department]  RECOMMENDATIONS  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  SEVENTEEN  537 


Bolton,  IV,  2;  Brooks,  ii;  DeGarmo,  4;  Halleck,  i,  9;  Hanus,  3;  Judd,  5a; 
Martin,  6;  O’Shea,  4. 

II.  That  definite  study  be  given  to  each  of  the  following  subjects,  either  in 
separate  courses  or  in  such  combinations  as  convenience  or  necessity 
demands: 

A.  History  of  Education, 

1.  History  of  general  education. 

2.  History  of  secondary  education. 

Barrett,  5;  Bolton,  IV,  2;  Brooks,  4;  Cubberley,  3;  DeGarmo,  3;  Halleck,  i,  10; 
Hanus,  6,  7;  Holland,  3;  Judd,  4;  Luckey,  6;  Martin,  7;  O’Shea,  4. 

B.  Educational  psychology  with  emphasis  on  adolescence. 

Barrett,  6,  8;  Brooks,  5;  DeGarmo,  4;  Halleck,  i,  5a,  5&;  Hanus,  5,  8;  Holland,  3; 
Luckey,  6;  Cubberley,  3;  Martin,  2,  3;  O’Shea,  4. 

C.  The  principles  of  education,  including  the  study  of  educational  aims,  values,  and 

processes.  Courses  in  general  method  are  included  under  this  heading. 
Barrett,  7,  10;  Bolton,  IV,  2;  Brooks,  6,  7;  DeGarmo,  i;  Hanus,  4,  5,  8;  Holland, 
3;  Judd,  5a;  Luckey,  6;  Martin,  2,  5;  O’Shea,  4. 

D.  Special  methods  in  the  secondary  school  subjects  that  the  students  expect  to 

teach. 

Barrett,  12;  Brooks,  8;  Buchner,  3;  DeGarmo,  2;  Halleck,  3,  5,  7;  Hanus,  4a,  4c; 
O’Shea,  3. 

E.  Organization  and  management  of  schools  and  school  systems. 

Bolton,  IV,  2;  Brooks,  9;  Halleck,  10;  Hanus,  8;  Holland,  3;  Luckey,  6;  Martin,  3; 
O’Shea,  4. 

F.  School  hygiene. 

Brooks,  10;  Hanus,  8;  Holland,  3. 

III.  That  opportunity  for  observation  and  practice  teaching  with  secondary 
pupils  be  given. 

The  committee  recognizes  the  difficulties  involved  in  this  recommendation,  but  believes 
that  they  are  not  insurmountable.  Each  of  the  following  plans  has  proved  successful 
in  some  instances: 

A.  The  maintenance  of  a  school  of  secondary-school  grade  that  may  be  used  for 

observation  and  practice. 

B.  Affiliation  with  public  or  private  high  schools  so  situated  geographically  that 

practice  teaching  can  be  done  without  interfering  with  the  other  work  of  the 
college  course. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  committee  suggests  that  where  competent  critical 
supervision  is  possible,  cadet  teaching,  in  schools  more  remotely  situated,  may  be  attempted. 
In  such  cases,  a  teacher’s  diploma  might  be  granted  after  a  year’s  successful  work  as  a 
cadet  teacher. 

Barrett,  10,  ii;  Bolton,  IV,  2;  Brooks,  12;  Buchner,  1,4;  DeGarmo,  5;  Halleck,  6; 
Hanus,  4c,  8;  Holland,  2;  Luckey,  6;  Martin,  8;  O’Shea,  5,  5a. 

IV.  That  the  minimum  requirement  for  a  secondary-school  teacher  be  gradua¬ 
tion  from  a  college  maintaining  a  four-year  course  and  requiring  four 
years’  high-school  work  for  admission,  or  from  an  institution  having 
equivalent  requirements  for  admission  and  giving  equivalent  academic 
scholarship. 

A  year  of  graduate  work  divided  between  academic  and  professional  subjects  is  desir¬ 
able.  Discussions  of  the  relative  value  of  college  and  normal  schools  as  training-schools 
for  secondary-school  teachers,  are  to  be  found  in  the  references  below: 


538 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Barrett,  6;  Bolton,  II,  IV,  i;  Brooks,  3;  Buchner,  3;  Cook,  Entire  paper;  Halleck, 
4,  8;  Judd,  3;  Kirk,  Entire  paper;  Luckey,  2,  7;  Cubberley,  i;  Martin,  9;  O’Shea,  4a. 

V.  That  the  study  of  subjects  mentioned  under  II  be  distributed  thru  the 
last  two  years  of  the  college  course. 

The  proportional  amount  of  time  given  to  these  subjects  will  vary  with  local  conditions, 
but  an  irreducible  minimum  is  one-eighth  of  the  college  course.  They  should  be  preceded 
or  accompanied  by  the  subjects  mentioned  in  I,  B,  C.  Recommendations  as  to  the  amount 
of  time  given  to  particular  courses  will  be  found  in  several  of  the  accompanying  papers. 
Bolton,  IV,  2;  Brooks,  12;  Hanus,  3;  Luckey,  4;  O’Shea,  4a. 

Papers  dealing  with  special  topics  have  not  been  given  paragraph  numbers 
and  are  not  included  in  the  references  above.  They  are  as  follows; 
Frederick  E.  Bolton 


I.  Requirements  for  High-School  Certificates.  II.  The  University  and 
the  College  as  Training-Schools  for  High-School  Teachers.  HI.  Stan- 
•  dards  in  Germany.  IV.  Standards  Suggested  for  American  Schools. 

Edward  F.- Buchner 

The  Professional  Preparation  of  High-School  Teachers  in  the  Fifteen 
Southern  States. 


John  W.  Cook 

Capacity  and  Limitations  of  the  Normal  School  in  the  Professional  Prepa¬ 
ration  of  the  High-School  Teachers. 

Charles  De  Garmo 

Professional  Training  of  Teachers  for  the  Secondary  Schools  of  Germany. 

Edwin  G.  Dexter 


The  Present  Training  of  Teachers  for  Secondary  Schools. 

J.  R.  Kirk 

Will  the  Same  Training  in  the  Normal  School  Serv^e  to  Prepare  the  Teacher 
for  Both  Eiementary  and  High-School  Work  ? 

Signed, 


REUBEN  POST  HALLECK 
STRATTON  D.  BROOKS 
JOHN  W.  COOK 
EDWIN  G.  DEXTER 
C.  H.  JUDD 
H.  M.  BARRETT 
J.  STANLEY  BROWN 
E.  P.  CUBBERLEY 
PAUL  H.  HANUS 


JOHN  R.  KIRK 
FREDERICK  E.  BOLTl'^ 
EDWARD  F.  BUCHNER 
CHARLES  DE  GARMO 
^  E.  O.  HOLLAND 

GEORGE  W.  A.  LUCKEY 
3  GEORGE  H.  MARTIN 
M.  VINCENT  o’ SHEA 


A  SHORT  COURSE  OF  PROFESSIONAL  READING  FOR  HIGH- 

SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

Requests  for  suggestions  for  professional  reading  have  been  received  from 
high-school  teachers  who  cannot  stop  their  work  to  go  to  schools  of  education 

*  Is  not  positive  about  making  mandatory  the  history  of  philosophy,  logic,  and  ethics, 

*  “Dissents  from  the  seemingly  unqualified  opinion  that  all  the  studies  under  II  should  ecessarily  form 
a  part  of  the  prospective  teacher’s  undergraduate  study.” 

3  Questions  Number  V. 


Department] 


READING  FOR  HIGH -SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


539 


or  who  cannot  remain  in  these  schools  a  sufficient  length  of  time.  It  is  one 
of  the  encouraging  signs  of  the  times  to  note  the  increasing  number  of  high- 
school  teachers  who  wish,  in  so  far  as  is  possible,  both  to  remedy  deficiencies 
in  their  professional  training  and  also  to  grow  in  their  profession.  A  br'ef  list 
of  books  for  this  purpose  is  accordingly  given.  In  the  preparation  of  this  list 
the  chairman  has  had  valuable  assistance  from  a  number  of  members  of  this 
committee,  but  no  one  member  except  himself  is  responsible  for  the  list  as  a 
whole.  While  several  books  by  members  of  this  committee  appear  below,  it 
shou’d  be  understood  that  such  books  were  in  every  case  suggested  by  other 
members  of  this  committee. 

The  brevity  of  this  list  should  add  to  its  value.  Before  the  teacher  has 
read  very  far,  other  books  and  references  will  be  suggested  to  him  and  he  will 
of  his  own  accord  search  for  a  more  elaborate  treatment  of  certain  topics. 
What  the  majority  of  teachers  need  is  a  start  among  the  bewildering  multiplicity 
of  works  on  education.  Where  shall  we  begin  ?  is  a  question  which  they 
frequently  ask. 

These  books  are  recommended  to  teachers  who  are  doing  any  branch  of 
secondary  educational  work,  no  matter  whether  it  is  academic,  arts  and  crafts, 
manual  training,  or  commercial. 

PSYCHOLOGY,  GENERAL  METHOD,  AND  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATION 

James,  Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology,  also  parts  of  his  two- volume  work  on  psychology 
(Henry  Holt  &  Co.). 

Judd,  Genetic  Psychology  for  Teachers  (D.  Appleton  &  Co.). 

Halleck,  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System  (The  Macmillan  Co.). 

Thorndike,  Principles  of  Teaching  Based  on  Psychology  (A.  G.  Seiler). 

Adams,  Herhartian  Psychology  Applied  to  Education  (D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.). 

Halleck,  Psychology  and  Psychic  Culture  (American  Book  Co.). 

Horne,  Psychological  Principles  of  Education  (Macmillan). 

Ce  Bon,  The  Crowd:  A  Study  of  the  Popular  Mind  (Macmillan). 

Galton,  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty  (“Everyman’s  Library  ”  1907,  E.  P.  Dutton  Co.). 
Hall,  Adolescence,  Its  Psychology,  2  vols.,  1,373  pages.  The  one-volume  edition,  379  pages, 
published  under  the  title.  Youth:  Its  Education,  Regimen,  and  Hygiene  (Appleton) 
will  suffice  for  the  average  reader. 

Bagley,  The  Educative  Process  (Macmillan). 

McMurry,  Method  of  the  Recitation  (Macmillan). 

Hanus,  Educational  Aims  and  Educational  Values  (Macmillan) 

O’Shea,  Education  as  Adjustment  (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.). 

Hanus,  A  Modern  School  (Macmillan). 

O’Shea,  Dynamic  Factors  in  Education  (Macmillan). 

SPECIAL  METHOD 

DeGarmo,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education  (Macmillan). 

Vol.  I,  “The  Studies;”  Vol.  H,  “Educational  Processes.” 

Bagster-Collins,  Teaching  of  German  in  Secondary  Schools  (Macmillan;. 

Bennett  and  Bristol,  The  Teaching  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  the  Secondary  School  (Longmans, 
Green  &  Co.). 


540 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Carpenter,  Baker,  and  Scott,  The  Teaching  0}  English  in  the  Elementary  and  Secondary 
School  (Macmillan). 

Chubb,  The  Teaching  of  English  in  the  Elementary  and  Secondary  School  (Macmillan). 
Smith  and  Hall,  The  Teaching  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  in  the  Secondary  School  (Long¬ 
mans,  Green  &  Co.). 

Lloyd  and  Bigelow,  The  Teaching  of  Biology  in  the  Secondary  School  (Longmans,  Green  & 
Co.). 

Smith,  D.  E.,  The  Teaching  of  Elementary  Mathematics  (Macmillan). 

Young,  The  Teaching  of  Mathematics  (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.). 

Bourne,  The  Teaching  of  History  and  Civics  in  the  Elementary  and  the  Secondary  School 
(Longmans,  Green  &  Co.). 

-  The  Study  of  History  in  Schools,  Report  to  the  American  Historical  Association, 

by  the  Committee  of  Seven,  267  pages  (Macmillan). 

-  Report  of  the  New  England  History  Teachers’  Association,  299  pages  (Macmillan). 

Richards,  Marnuil  Training  (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.). 

HISTORICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE,  UNITED  STATES  AND  GERMANY 

Brown,  The  Making  of  Our  Middle  Schools  (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.). 

Dexter,  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States  (Macmillan). 

Luckey,  The  Professional  Training  of  Secondary  Teachers  in  the  United  States  (Macmillan). 
Bolton,  The  Secondary  School  System  of  Germany  (Appleton). 

Russell,  German  Higher  Schools  (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.). 

Paulsen,  German  Universities  (Charles  Scribner’s  Sons). 

GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION  AND  EDUCATIONAL  CLASSICS 

Monroe,  Textbook  in  the  History  of  Education,  772  pages  (Macmillan). 

Davidson,  History  of  Education,  292  pages  (Scribner). 

Bosanquet,  Education  of  the  Young  in  Platons  Republic,  198  pages  (Cambridge  University 
Press). 

Bryan,  Plato,  the  Teacher,  454  pages  (Scribner). 

Davidson,  Aristotle  and  Ancient  Educational  Ideals,  256  pages  (Scribner). 

Ascham,  Scholemaster,  317  pages  (D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.). 

Woodward,  Vittorino  da  Feltre  and  Other  Humanist  Educators,  261  pages  (Cambridge 
University  Press). 

Locke,  Thoughts  on  Education,  edited  by  Quick,  240  pages  (Cambridge  University  Press). 
Rousseau,  Emile  (abridged  edition,  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.). 

Herbart,  Outlines  of  Educational  Doctrine,  edited  by  Lange  and  DeGarmo,  334  pages 
(Macmillan). 

Spencer,  Education,  285  pages  (Appleton). 

Painter,  Great  Pedagogical  Essays,  426  pages  (selections  from  twenty-six  classics;  American 
Book  Co.). 

ETHICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY 

Adler,  Moral  Instruction  of  Children,  278  pages  (Appleton). 

MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character:  Some  Educational  Aspects  of  Ethics,  226  pages 
(Macmillan). 

Griggs,  Moral  Education,  352  pages  (B.  W.  Huebsch,  publisher.  New  York). 

Sidgwick,  On  Stimulus  (Cambridge  University  Press). 

Forbush,  The  Boy  Problem:  A  Study  in  Social  Pedagogy,  194  pages  (The  Pilgrim  Press 
Boston). 

Dewey,  The  School  and  Society,  129  pages  (The  University  of  Chicago  Press).  . 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


541 


Patten,  New  Basis  0}  Civilization,  220  pages  (Macmillan). 

Giddings,  Elements  of  Sociology,  353  pages  (Macmillan). 

American  Journal  of  Sociology. 

BOOKS  HELPFUL  TO  TEACHERS  IN  RECOMMENDING  SUITABLE  READING  TO  HIGH-SCHOOL 

PUPILS 

Hewins,  Books  for  Boys  and  Girls,  56  pages  (American  Library  Association,  34  Newbury 
Street,  Boston). 

Children's  Reading:  A  Catalogue  Compiled  for  the  Home  Libraries  and  Reading  Clubs, 
Conducted  by  the  Children’s  Department  of  the  Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburg,  no  pages 
(American  Library  Association,  34  Newbury  Street,  Boston). 

Field,  Fingerposts  to  Children’s  Reading,  276  pages  (A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co.,  Chicago). 

Colby,  Literature  and  Life  in  School,  229  pages  (Houghton  Mifflin  Co.). 

Griswold,  A  Descriptive  List  of  Books  for  the  Young,  large  8vo,  175  pages  (W.  M.  Gris¬ 
wold,  publisher,  Cambridge,  Mass.). 

Hanna,  “One  Hundred  Books  of  Unqualified  Value  for  High-School  Students  to  Read” — 
published  in  the  1899  volume  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Associa¬ 
tion,  pp.  486,  487.  This  list  is  also  included  in  a  separate  volume  of  eighty  pages, 
known  as  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Relation  of  Public  Libraries  to  the  Public 
Schools,  published  by  the  National  Educational  Association,  Winona,  Minn. 

Hall,  “Youth,”  chap,  viii,  pp.  141-206,  Biographies  of  Youth  (Appleton). 

Aldrich,  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy  (Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.). 

Bashkirtseff,  Marie,  Journal  of  a  Young  Artist  (Rand,  McNally  &  Co.,  Chicago). 

Howells,  William  D.,  Heroines  of  Fiction,  2  vols.,  513  pages  (Harper  &  Bros.). 

Richardson,  Choice  of  Books  (David  McKay,  Philadelphia). 

EDUCATIONAL  PERIODICALS 

The  School  Review  (especially  devoted  to  secondary  education)  should  be  read  regularly. 

The  Educational  Review. 

The  Pedagogical  Seminary. 

Education. 

The  Manual  Training  Magazine,  Peoria,  Ill. 


PAPERS  ON  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF 

HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

I 

H.  M.  BARRETT,  PRINCIPAL  OF  HIGH  SCHOOL,  PUEBLO,  COLO. 

I.  It  might  be  inferred  from  the  subject  of  this  paper  that  the  professional 
preparation  of  the  high-school  teacher  is  not  always  satfsfactory.  I  shall 
not  object  to  the  inference.  Rather,  I  shall  try,  first,  to  furnish  a  bill  of  par¬ 
ticulars  in  the  complaint  against  the  high -school  teacher’s  professional  training; 
second,  I  shall  mention  some  of  the  reasons  why  this  training  is  not  all  that 
it  should  be;  and  finally,  if  I  can,  I  shall  point  out  how  the  high-school  teacher 
may  secure  the  proper  professional  preparation. 

The  faults  in  the  professional  preparation  of  the  high-school  teacher  may 
be  grouped  under  three  heads:  First,  although  the  high-school  teacher  has 
sufficient  education,  broadly  speaking,  he  does  not  know  how  to  teach.  It 
is  not  long  since  it  was  assumed  that  anybody  with  a  college  diploma  was  fit 
to  teach  in  a  high  school;  and  if  he  had  taken  high  rank  in  his  college  classes 
then  any  high  school  was  lucky  to  get  him.  The  superintendent  and  principal, 


542 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


■  [Secondary 


at  least,  have  long  since  been  made  to  realize  by  abundant  experience  that  a 
good  student  is  not  always  a  good  teacher.  In  the  light  of  this  experience  they 
have  been  chary  about  giving  a  try-out  to  the  unseasoned  graduate,  if  one  may 
borrow  a  football  phrase,  and  they  have  tried  to  insist  when  they  could  on 
successful  experience  in  other  high  schools  as  evidence  of  ability  to  teach. 

2.  The  second  item  in  the  bill  is  that  the  teacher  who  has  anticipated  his 
work  and  has  undertaken  to  prepare  for  it  has  frequently  devoted  himself 
almost  exclusively  to  the  study  of  a  single  branch.  He  has  gone  in  for  science, 
or  has  taken  everything  in  advanced  mathematics  that  his  college  offered,  or 
has  spent  considerable  time  in  the  study  of  Anglo-Saxon,  has  attended  with 
enthusiasm  all  the  classes  in  literature,  and  has  devoted  himself  assiduously 
to  the  work  in  theme-vTiting  and  in  the  composition  of  sonnets.  Thus  pre¬ 
pared  for  his  special  work  in  high  school,  he  comes  to  teach  boys  and  girls 
to  do  the  same  thing  that  he  has  done.  The  specialist  has  studied  not  wisely 
but  too  well.  If  he  be  a  science  man  he  feels  that  he  ought  not  to  have  to 
correct  English  in  the  notebooks  of  his  pupils — and  indeed  he  ought  not; 
but  when  the  need  exists,  as  it  does  now  and  then,  he  cannot  agree  that  every 
teacher  should  be  an  English  teacher  before  he  is  anything  else. 

3.  Finally,  the  complaint  against  the  high-school  teacher  is  that,  even 
tho  he  could  teach  mathematics,  science,  English  or  what  not,  he  cannot  teach 
boys  and  girls.  One  principal  puts  it  brutally  that  the  high-school  teacher 
has  no  sense.  This  is  a  hard  saying,  but  there  is  directness  and  finality  in 
the  sound  of  it  that  carry  weight.  Ordinarily,  the  statement  that  a  man  has 
no  sense  is  a  tolerably  sweeping  condemnation;  but  when  we  examine  the 
meaning  of  the  word  “sense”  in  this  connection  we  find  that  it  signifies  about 
all  that  makes  a  man  a  master  in  any  profession.  A  man  may  have  the  finest 
university  training  in  medicine,  but  if  he  lacks  sense  he  will  not  succeed  as  a 
physician;  lack  of  sense  in  a  lawyer  will  make  a  superior  knowledge  of  the 
law  of  little  value.  The  fact  is  that  sense,  fundamental  as  the  quality  appears, 
and  fundamental  as  it  really  is,  actually  implies  all  that  makes  one  a  strong 
teacher,  a  great  teacher.  It  may  seriously  be  doubted,  whether,  after  all, 
sense  is  not  a  gift  with  which  one  is  born,  rather  than  an  accomplishment 
which  can  be  acquired  by  training.  An  old  professor  of  mine  used  to  say: 
“There  are  some  things  which,  if  a  man  doesn’t  get  before  he  is  four  years 
old,  he  never  gets.”  I  fancy  that  sense  is  one  of  these  things.  The  French, 
who  are  polite,  call  it  savoir  jaire^  and  so  called,  it  sounds  more  like  some¬ 
thing  which  may  be  acquired  by  study  and  growth. 

Most  principals  are  apt  to  feel  that  the  reason  why  the  student  fresh  from 
college  fails  as  a  teacher  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  unconsciously  assumes  that 
high-school  boys  and  girls  are  young  ladies  and  gentlemen.  Technically, 
so  far  as  age  goes,  and  so  far  as  the  name  implies  nice  young  people,  decently 
brought  up  by  .particular  parents,  they  are  young  ladies  and  gentlemen;  but 
mentally,  for  all  the  practical  purposes  of  the  teacher,  they  are  still  boys  and 
girls.  They  are  not  at  all  ready  for  college  methods  of  instruction.  It  will 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


543 


not  do  for  the  high-school  teacher  to  give  a  course  of  lectures  and  permit  the 
pupils  to  take  the  instruction  or  leave  it  as  they  choose.  If  they  choose  to 
leave  it  the  loss  is  theirs,  true  enough;  but  they  must  not  be  allowed  to  leave  it. 

The  old  masters  knew  their  duty  in  this  regard,  and  they  did  it — often  with 
groanings  on  the  part  of  the  pupils  that  could  not  be  uttered.  There  was  a 
certain  crudeness  about  their  methods  which  would  not  be  tolerated  today; 
caning  and  flogging  were  long  the  effective  means  of  inducing  interest  in  study 
which  the  Herbartian  doctrine  does  not  approve.  Yet  the  old  masters  under¬ 
stood  their  problem  well  enough,  no  matter  what  we  may  think  of  their  method 
of  solving  it.  They  knew  that  boys  and  girls  cannot  be  left  to  themselves  to 
study  or  to  take  the  consequences  in  a  life  of  inefficiency  in  the  vague  future. 
They  knew  human  nature  well  enough  to  understand  that  the  doctrine  of 
future  punishment,  however  well  founded,  is  not  an  efficient  cause  of  present 
effort  with  men  and  women,  much  less  with  boys  and  girls.  And  in  their 
own  primitive  way  the  old  masters  undertook  to  supply  an  immediate  substitute 
for  future  punishment,  unpedagogical,  no  doubt,  but  often  effective  in  accom¬ 
plishing  results. 

The  specialist,  too,  because  he  is  a  specialist,  has  lost  some  of  the  advan¬ 
tages  possessed  by  the  old  master.  If  the  boy  does  not  do  wtII  in  his  par¬ 
ticular  subject,  the  boy  to  him  is  a  ne’er-do-well.  The  specialist  knows  nothing 
about  the  pupil  except  what  he  sees  of  him  in  his  own  class;  and  if  the  pupil 
fails  there  he  is  condemned  utterly.  The  principal  who  sees  this  situation 
often  feels  that  it  would  be  well  if  the  specialist  were  required  to  teach  more 
than  one  subject — well  for  the  pupil  and  well  for  the  specialist. 

4.  The  limitations  of  the  college  graduate  and  also  the  limitations  of  the 
university-trained  specialist  are  summed  up  in  the  indictment  that  they  do 
not  know  boys  and  girls  and  therefore  they  do  not  know  how  to  deal  with  them. 
These  teachers  are  too  apt  to  shift  upon  others  the  responsibility  for  a  pupil’s 
shortcomings,  to  throw  it  back  upon  the  grade  teachers,  or  to  attribute  it  to 
some  lack  of  rigid  discipline  in  the  high  school  as  a  whole.  Often  one  hears 
such  teachers  lamenting  the  fate  which  condemns  them  to  the  annoyance  of 
petty  discipline,  and  weakly  wishing  for  a  college  position.  Not  till  they  learn 
the  joy  of  being  alive  among  boys  and  girls  and  of  watching  them  grow  under 
their  hands  into  men  and  women,  can  these  hope  to  be  high-school  teachers 
in  the  real  sense.  Now,  they  do  not  realize  that  it  is  folly  to  place  responsi¬ 
bility  for  poor  work  on  other  teachers,  or,  indeed,  upon  the  pupil  himself. 
Here  is  the  pupil  with  all  his  imperfections  on  his  head.  It  is  up  to  the  indi¬ 
vidual  teacher  to  train  that  pupil  to  do  the  work  in  his  class  and  make  a  man 
of  him  in  that  work.  The  grade  teacher  knows  that  if  any  one  of  her  pupils 
fails  in  the  next  higher  grade  it  is  a  reflection  upon  her.  Much  more,  how¬ 
ever,  does  she  appreciate  that  if  he  does  not  do  good  work  in  her  grade  nobody 
can  be  blamed  but  her.  The  unsatisfactory  pupil  is  a  perpetual  problem  to 
her,  and  there  is  more  joy  in  her  heart  over  the  successful  solution  of  one  such 
problem  than  over  ninety  and  nine  that  need  no  solution.  Every  time  she 


544 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


solves  such  a  problem  she  knows  that  she  has  proved  herself  a  real  teacher; 
every  time  she  fails  to  solve  such  a  problem  she  must  feel  that  she  has  measur¬ 
ably  failed  as  a  teacher.  How,  then,  thro  professional  preparation,  can 
the  high-school  teacher  fit  himself  to  do  the  work  before  him,  to  assume  the 
responsibility  of  teaching,  not  physics,  or  English,  or  mathematics,  but  boys 
and  girls  ? 

5.  The  high-school  teacher  ought  of  course  to  know  the  history  of  educa¬ 
tion  and  the  history  of  the  development  of  the  secondary  schools.  It  is  not 
quite  clear  precisely  how  this  is  to  help  him  solve  particular  problems  in  train¬ 
ing  boys  and  girls;  but,  intelligently  used,  the  knowledge  and  appreciation  of 
the  present  in  the  light  of  the  past  should  be  of  real  value  in  giving  the  teacher 
breadth  of  view  and  grasp  of  the  work  as  a  whole. 

6.  Educational  psychology  ought  to  have  its  place  in  such  a  course  of 
training.  Yet  here,  too,  the  value  of  the  study  will  be  general  rather  than 
particular;  it  will  be  more  valuable  for  the  man  himself  than  can  be  pointed 
out  for  specific  use  in  his  daily  task.  An  attempt  to  apply  such  knowledge 
narrowly  and  rigidly  will  almost  certainly  make  the  teacher  unpractical  and 
pedantic,  and  will  be  attended  with  ridiculous  and  even  with  disastrous  results. 
This  suggests  the  need  that  the  high-school  teacher  have,  as  a  prerequisite  to 
his  special  training,  the  broad  and  liberal  education  represented  by  a  four 
years’  college  course.  Such  an  education  ought  to  give  him  the  habit  of  seeing 
“great  things  large  and  little  things  small,”  of  “seeing  life  steadily  and  seeing 
it  whole.”  If  one  might  particularize  in  this  digression  it  would  be  to  say 
that  in  his  college  course  the  teacher  ought  to  get  a  great-deal  of  practical  value 
out  of  the  pursuit  of  a  thoro-going  course  in  sociology. 

7.  With  this  general  education  to  fortify  him,  it  ought  to  be  safe  for  the 
future  high-school  teacher  to  give  some  time  to  the  study  of  pedagogy.  With¬ 
out  the  general  education,  there  is  great  danger  that  the  teacher  may  fall  into 
the  error  of  thinking  that  pedagogy  is  the  whole  thing  in  education.  To  the 
practical  teacher,  it  seems  just  to  exclaim,  modifying  slightly  the  familiar 
phrase  of  Madame  Roland,  “Ah  pedagogy,  how  many  crimes  are  committed 
in  thy  name !”  Pedagogy  isn’t  much  of  a  science  as  yet.  It  has  in  it  commonly 
too  many  glittering  generalities,  too  many  half-truths  that  the  narrowly  edu¬ 
cated  teacher  accepts  as  absolute  and  comprehensive. 

8.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  as  a  book  which  the  high-school 
teacher  should  include  in  his  course  of  professional  training.  Dr.  Stanley  Hall’s 
great  w^ork  on  Adolescence.  No  book  exists  which  deals  so-  minutely  and  so 
comprehensively  with  the  life  in  which  the  high-school  teacher  works. 

9.  It  is  not  likely  that  any  educational  expert  will  object  to  the  course  of 
study  thus  outlined  as  too  extended;  if  anyone  cares  to  elaborate  it  the  writer 
of  this  paper  wdll  not  seriously  object.  Yet  the  element  which  the  writer 
regards  as  most  important  in  the  proper  professional  preparation  of  the  high- 
school  teacher  has  not  been  mentioned.  It  is  the  element  of  experience.  ' 
In  teaching,  quite  as  much  as  in  any  profession,  trade,  or  business,  we  learn 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


545 


to  do  by  doing.  Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  actual  work  in  the  schoolroom. 
The  practice  school  under  supervision  will  not  answer.  It  is  good  so  far  as 
it  goes,  but  its  conditions  at  best  are  more  or  less  artificial. 

10.  Here  perhaps  might  be  mentioned  the  normal  school  as  a  training-place 
for  high-school  teachers.  The  normal  school  vv^ould  undoubtedly  serv^e  to 
supply  some  of  the  common  deficiencies  in  the  high-school  teacher’s  training. 
It  should  never  be  accepted  as  a  substitute  for  the  college,  for  with  most  high- 
school  pupils  who  are  to  continue  study  after  graduating  from  high  school  the 
college  is  the  next  step,  and  the  high-school  teacher  will  not  do  the  best  for 
these  boys  and  girls  unless  he  knows  intimately  what  college  is.  The  train¬ 
ing  furnished  by  a  good  normal  school  as  supplementary  to  the  teacher’s 
college  course  would  be  quite  worth  w^hile,  for  it  would  bring  the  teacher 
closer  to  the  work  before  him.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose,  however,  that  normal- 
school  training  can  take  the  place  of  actual  experience.  Here,  as  in  the  uni¬ 
versity,  conditions  are  inevitably  artificial,  though  the  study  of  methods  as 
taught  in  the  normal  school  wfiU  be  most  helpful  to  the  college  graduate  who 
intends  to  teach.  But  the  teacher  cannot  do  his  best  or  develop  those  qualities . 
and  that  skill  most  needed  in  a  teacher  while  a  critic  is  looking  on  and  taking 
notes  of  his  faults  in  manner  and  method.  A  brief  experience  of  a  few  weeks 
or  months  in  a  room  of  boys  and  girls  somewhat  trained  to  habits  of  vv^ork  by 
others  furnishes  small  opportunity  for  the  use  of  initiative  on  the  teacher’s 
part.  The  teacher  in  the  making  needs  to  be  confronted  by  conditions,  not 
theories.  Such  conditions  only  will  force  him  to  summon  to  his  command  those 
methods  and  expedients  which,  so  far  as  they  are  of  real  value,  are  in  ev'ery 
teacher  matters  of  personality.  Something,  though  generally  very  little,  the 
teacher  may  gain  by  watching  the  work  of  good  teachers;  very  little  indeed, 
unless  it  be  appropriated  in  a  condition  of  mental  and  spiritual  hunger  on  the 
teacher’s  part,  and  assimilated  and  made  a  part  of  himself  under  the  healthy 
normal  conditions  of  real  work  for  which  he  is  actually  responsible  and  which 
is  genuinely  his  own. 

11.  In  view  of  these  considerations,  then,  the  high-school  teacher  should 
have  a  year  or  two  year’s  experience  in  grade  schools,  where  as  an  actual  and 
responsible  teacher  he  should  see  growing  under  his  ovm  hand  the  mental 
and  moral  character  of  a  school  of  boys  and  girls.  In  the  grades  the  high- 
school  teacher  will  have  learned  intimately  and  accurately  a  great  deal  of  the 
method  of  thought  and  of  the  feelings  and  motives  of  the  boys  and  girls  which 
he  is  to  teach  in  high  school.  He  will  hav^e  some  practical  notion  of  the  proper 
and  legitimate  use  of  the  word  apperception,  which  wfithout  this  experience, 
he  might  be  prone  to  regard  as  one  of  the  charm  words  with  which  the  child- 
study  priests  are  w^ont  to  cast  a  spell  upon  their  converts.  In  the  grades,  if 
the  teacher  is  to  do  anything  at  all,  he  must  first  divest  himself  of  college 
methods  of  instruction  and  meet  the  boys  and  girls  on  their  own  ground. 
He  must  recognize  also,  because  he  directs  all  matters  of  discipline  and 
study,  that  he,  and  he  alone,  is  responsible  for  all  the  conditions  in  his  school- 


546 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


room,  for  the  pupils’  attitude  toward  work,  and  for  the  growth  and  development 
of  all  the  pupils  under  his  charge.  He  may  not  steel  himself  to  endure  an  ill- 
trained,  disorderly  class  for  one  recitation  period,  while  he  looks  forward  to 
the  hour  when  he  shall  have  a  class  and  has  learned  habits  of  good  behavior 
and  systematic  work  from  some  other  teacher.  This  is  where  the  teacher  too 
often  fails  who  serves  his  apprenticeship  in  the  high  school,  for  here  the  road 
to  success  is  long  and  hard,  unless  unusual  natural  ability  combined  with  a 
large  measure  of  good  luck  forces  the  truth  home  to  him.  In  the  grades  the 
conditions  will  compel  him,  in  the  phrase  of  Carlyle,  to  make  truce  with  neces¬ 
sity,  which  the  sage  of  Chelsea  points  out  to  be  the  foundation  of  all  success. 

The  poor  high-school  teacher  as  a  rule  lacks  that  professional  training  which 
puts  him  at  home  with  his  pupils.  Nor  can  he  easily  gain  this  part  of  his 
training  in  the  high  school,  where  the  pupils  are  at  the  adolescent  stage.  They 
are  awkward  and  diffident,  mentally  as  well  as  physically.  A  few  years  earlier, 
in  the  grades,  these  pupils  would  have  made  themselves  at  home  with  the 
teacher;  now  it  is  the  teacher  who  must  take  the  initiative  and  take  it  easily 
and  naturally.  Nowhere  in  the  child’s  life  is  the  need  so  great  for  the  trained 
eye  and  the  steady  hand  as  at  the  high-school  age.  The  teacher  who  tries 
to  gain  these  in  the  high  school  is  like  the  pilot  who  should  take  his  first  lessons 
at  the  wheel  in  steering  a  boat  through  the  rapids.  The  high  school  is  a  poor 
place  to  gain  the  first  experience  in  teaching.  The  conditions  are  too  complex. 

Objections  may  perhaps  be  made  to  this  method  of  professional  prepara¬ 
tion  on  the  ground  that  the  teacher  who  is  to  do  high-school  work  cannot 
afford,  on  account  of  the  poor  pay,  after  having  invested  in  a  college  education, 
to  accept  a  position  in  the  grades.  The  answer  is  that  this  is  the  final  step 
in  the  teacher’s  training.  This  work  in  the  grades  ought  to  be  far  more  valu¬ 
able  to  the  teacher  than  to  the  school.  If  the  superintendent  is  willing  to  give 
the  man  or  woman  fresh  from  college  a  chance  to  teach  in  the  grades,  the  man 
or  woman  ought  to  be  glad  to  get  the  place;  and  ought  to  strive  conscientiously 
to  do  as  much  good  and  as  little  harm  as  possible  to  the  pupils  intrusted  to 
him.  The  young  doctor  with  four  years  of  college  and  two  or  three  years  of 
medical  school  behind  him  is  glad  to  get  a  place  as  interne  in  a  hospital  and 
work  a  year  or  two  for  his  board  in  order  to  get  the  practical  side  of  his  pro¬ 
fession.  The  young  lawyer,  having  earned  his  B.A.  and  his  LL.B.,  is  glad  to 
work  at  small  pay  for  a  successful  law  firm,  and  plead  his  first  cases  in  a  justice 
court,  in  order  to  learn  the  routine  of  office  and  court  work.  The  clergy¬ 
man  just  out  of  the  seminary  is  fortunate  if  he  can  get  an  appointment  as  assist¬ 
ant  in  a  good  charge  and  learn  here  the  rudiments  of  his  profession.  The 
most  promising  of  the  men  who  graduate  from  the  technical  schools  are  eager 
to  begin  at  the  bottom  in  the  factory  or  in  the  railroad  shops  and  learn  the 
business  from  the  beginning;  they  understand  that  it  is  a  valuable  and  often 
a  necessary  step  toward  the  manager’s  office  or  the  private  car  to  have  worn 
overalls  and  carried  a  dinner  bucket.  So  the  schoolmaster  with  all  his  degrees 
and  his  special  study  may  well  serve  his  apprenticeship  in  the  grade  school- 


Department]  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


547 


room  at  a  very  small  salary,  realizing  that  for  the  first  two  years  he  is  much 
more  of  a  learner  than  a  teacher.  He  needs  to  approach  his  work  from  a 
direction  altogether  different  to  that  from  which  he  has  approached  it  before. 
He  has  studied  historical  facts  and  scientific  theories;  now'  he  must  get  down 
beside  the  boys  and  girls  and  look  at  things  with  their  eyes,  see  the  w'orld  as 
they  see  it.  Only  so  can  he  use  his  facts  and  theories  to  good  purpose  as  a 
teacher.  The  course  in  education  at  the  university  is  of  great  value  to  the 
experienced  teacher;  it  is  commonly  worth  little  to  the  college  graduate  with¬ 
out  experience  in  the  schoolroom. 

12.  To  put  it  briefly:  Let  the  college  student  who  is  to  teach  in  high  school 
specialize  somewhat  in  the  lines  of  his  chosen  calling  during  his  last  tw'o  years 
in  college.  Let  him  study  the  history  of  education,  particularly  of  secondary 
education,  educational  psychology,  pedagogy,  methods  of  teaching  his  special 
subject,  and  the  relation  of  his  subject  to  the  whole  work  of  the  high  school; 
let  him  learn  what  Stanley  Hall  can  tell  him  of  the  adolescent  period.  Then 
let  him  get  a  place  in  the  grades  and  learn  how  to  teach  boys  and  girls,  how'  to 
understand  them,  and  how  to  work  with  them.  After  two  years  of  this  w'ork 
the  teacher  ought  to  be  ready  for  work  in  the  high  school.  He  w'ill  then 
bring  to  his  task  a  fund  of  school  lore  not  to  be  found  in  books  or  in  courses 
of  education;  he  will  even  have  accumulated  a  store  of  sense.  This,  from  the 
standpoint  of  a  high-school  principal,  is  the  proper  professional  preparation 
for  the  high-school  teacher. 


H 

STEATTON  D.  BROOKS,  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS,  BOSTON, 

MASSACHUSETTS 

I.  A  somewhat  extended  observation  of  teachers  causes  me  to  believe  that 
one  of  the  important  elements  leading  to  ineffective  teaching  in  the  secondary 
schools  of  the  country  is  that  the  teachers  fail  to  get  the  pupil’s  point  of  view. 
They  do  not  see  the  subject  taught  as  the  pupil  sees  it.  A  large  majority  of 
them  give  greater  attention  to  the  logical  development  of  the  subject  than  to 
the  development  of  the  logical  powers  of  the  pupil.  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  training  of  these  teachers  has  been  largely,  if  not  wholly,  academic, 
and  that  their  professional  training,  if  any,  has  been  incidental  and  super¬ 
ficial.  Academic  training,  as  here  used,  means  the  study  of  the  subject 
for  the  sake  of  mastering  it  as  a  subject  in  its  logical  and  epistemological 
relations,  while  professional  training,  as  here  used,  means  the  study  of  the 
subject  with  reference  to  its  adaptability  to  use  as  an  instrument  for  develop¬ 
ing  and  training  the  mind  of  the  pupil.  Such  professional  training  wdll  include 
the  supplementary  study  of  all  allied  or  additional  subjects  that  will  aid  in 
this  purpose.  To  the  extent  that  academic  study  of  any  subject  prepares  a 
teacher  to  use  that  subject  as  an  instrument  of  child  development  it  is  profes¬ 
sional  in  its  result. 


548 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


2.  Since  without  an  academic  knowledge  of  his  subject  the  teacher  cannot 
teach  that  subject,  it  follows  that  the  academic  pursuit  of  knowledge  must  be 
a  fundamental  part  and  parcel  of  professional  training.  The  amount  of  special 
study  in  any  single  line  will  vary  with  the  nature  of  the  subject.  Four  years 
of  w'ork  in  Latin  beyond  that  of  high-school  grade  is  not  too  much  to  require 
for  a  teacher  of  Latin,  nor  would  four  years  of  work  in  sciences  as  a  whole  be 
considered  too  great  a  requirement  for  a  teacher  of  science.  For  a  teacher  of 
chemistry,  however,  suitable  preparation  on  the  academic  side  may  require 
less  than  four  years  of  work  in  chemistry  alone,* though  the  total  time  given  to 
scientific  study  by  such  a  teacher  should  not  fall  below  four  years  of  college 
work.  In  general,  the  greater  the  academic  accomplishment  of  the  secondary- 
school  teacher,  thelDetter  his  teaching  will  be;  provided  this  academic  study 
is  so  tempered  and  modified  by  professional  study  as  to  enable  him  to  select 
from  his  greater  store  of  knowledge  those  items  of  most  use  in  the  development 
of  his  pupils.  The  evils  of  over-specialization  are  not  those  of  excessive  aca¬ 
demic  preparation  but  those  of  insufficient  professional  preparation.  The 
minimum  requirement  for  a  high-school  teacher  should  be  graduation  from  a 
college  course  in  which  special  study  has  been  given  to  the  subjects  that  the 
candidate  expects  to  teach. 

3.  In  addition  to  as  complete  and  accurate  scholarship  as  can  possibly  be 
obtained,  the  training  of  the  secondary-school  teacher  should  include  many 
items  that  will  give  to  this  academic  knowledge  its  greatest  efficiency  as  an 
e'ducational  instrument.  These  elements  may  be  properly  termed  professional. 
Some  of  the  more  important  ones  are  as  follows: 

4.  A  teacher  should  have  a  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  aim  and  purpose 
of  education.  This  involves  a  knowledge  of  our  present  civilization  and  the 
obligations  of  the  citizens  of  it.  Even  a  partial  understanding  of  the  present 
ideals  of  education  can  be  arrived  at  only  by  considering  the  process  by  which 
they  have  come  into  existence.  It  is  necessary  that  the  teacher  understand 
the  more  important  epochs  in  the  development  of  civilization  and  the  means 
adopted  in  each  to  educate  the  citizens  therefor.  Without  this  knowledge 
the  teacher  must  accept  the  statements  of  others  as  to  what  constitutes  the  aim 
of  education,  and  will  be  unable  to  select  from  the  different  claimants  those 
having  the  largest  basis  in  human  experience.  The  teacher’s  professional 
course  must  therefore  include  a  study  of  a  large  portion  of  the  history  oj  the 
world  with  special  emphasis  upon  the  part  of  education  therein  and  with  some 
consideration  to  the  history  oj  secondary  schools. 

5.  The  teacher  must  be  thoroly  familiar  with  the  child,  not  only  to  the  extent 
of  understanding  the  laws  of  his  development,  but  what  is  more  important 
to  the  extent  of  appreciating  the  child’s  point  of  view,  and  being  able  to  look 
upon  the  w'orld  as  the  child  looks  upon  it.  Study  alone  cannot  give  this  last. 
The  sympathetic  attitude  is  not  based  solely  upon  knowledge,  but  is  rather 
ingrained  in  the  character.  The  teacher  who  is  most  analytical,  who  most 
clearly  separates  and  picks  apart  the  mental  machinery  of  childhood,  is 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


549 


likely  to  be  the  least  sympathetic  and  so  most  often  fails  in  the  schoolroom. 
It  is  true,  however,  that  given  the  sympathetic  attitude,  this  sympathy  gains 
in  point  and  purpose  from  a  complete  understanding  of  the  needs  of  the  child. 
The  increase  in  teaching  power  that  the  study  of  psychology  and  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  facts  of  adolescence  will  give  to  the  teacher  attuned  to  the  apprecia¬ 
tive  attitude  is  immeasurable.  Psychology^  with  emphasis  on  adolescence^ 
must  therefore  be  included  in  the  teacher’s  professional  course. 

6.  The  final  goal  and  the  point  of  departure  being  known,  the  major  lines 
of  educational  procedure  are  thereby  determined.  The  teacher  who  has 
decided  what  he  will  consider  the  fundamental  aim  of  education,  and  who 
appreciates  the  condition  and  methods  of  development  of  the  child,  has  a 
standard  for  judging  the  truth  or  falsity  of  educational  principles  that  is  not 
possessed  by  one  w^hose  ideas  of  either  of  these  subjects  are  hazy  and  indefinite. 
The  professional  study  of  a  teacher  should  therefore  include  the  full  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  principles  oj  education  as  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  child  and 
the  purpose  of  education. 

7.  After  such  a  study,  intelligent  consideration  may  be  given  to  the  adapta¬ 
tion  of  the  subject-matter  of  instruction  to  the  needs  of  the  pupil  so  that  by 
selection  and  modification  this  subject-matter  may  be  presented  in  the  way 
that  will  most  rapidly  advance  the  child  toward  the  desired  end.  The  general 
principles  oj  7nethod  will  therefore  find  a  place  in  the  teacher’s  professional 
course  of  study. 

8.  The  academic  study  of  the  teacher  will  give  him  a  knowledge  of  the 
subject-matter  of  instruction,  but  his  attitude  toward  it  will  be  that  of  the 
adult  mind,  and  his  conception  of  it  that  which  will  make  it  useful  for  other 

-  purposes  than  educational  ones.  To  this  academic  knowledge  of  the  subject 
the  teacher  should  add  a  professional  study  of  it  by  means  of  which  he  will 
determine  what  aid  it  will  give  to  the  general  purposes  of  education;  what 
portions  of  it  are  possible  of  acquisition  by  the  child;  in  what  order  these 
should  be  presented  so  that  the  child’s  development  will  be  most  helped; 
by  what  methods  it  may  be  made  to  conform  to  the  child’s  point  of  view; 
to  what  extent  it  must  be  accommodated  to  the  general  principles  of  methods; 
and  what  special  devices  and  applications  the  experience  of  years  has  shown 
desirable  and  effective.  Of  quite  as  much  value  as  all  this,  his  professional 
study  should  show  him  what  not  to  do  and  enable  him  to  avoid  the  repetition 
of  experiments  long  since  shown  to  be  detrimental.  The  professional  course 
should  include,  therefore,  a  study  of  the  special  methods  of  instruction  in  the 
subjects  to  which  the  teacher  expects  to  give  the  major  portion  of  his  attention, 
together  with  the  history  oj  the  teaching  oj  that  subject. 

9.  If  all  the  preceding  could  be  accurately  determined  and  carried  into 
effect  we  would  have  the  ideal.  Unfortunately  the  ideal  is  unattainable,  and 
the  teacher  who  fails  to  accommodate  his  ideals  to  the  necessities  of  his  work 
will  have  his  failure  charged  up  to  his  being  a  mere  theorist.  We  are  not  alone 
in  this  world  and  not  only  must  all  the  preceding  be  determined  in  its  applica- 


550 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


tion  to  many  pupils  rather  than  to  one,  but  it  must  be  applied  by  a  teacher 
working  with  other  teachers  and  instructing  many  children  at  the  same  time., 
All  that  he  does  is  but  one  additional  element  in  the  large  number  of  influences 
at  work  upon  the  children,  and  any  theoretical  determination  of  what  ought 
to  be  produced  must  give  way  to  the  clear  conception  of  what  is  really  produced. 
The  modifications  and  adaptations  that  numbers  render  necessary  must  have 
consideration,  and  no  teacher  is  educationally  equipped  who  has  not  given 
careful  thought  to  the  necessities  of  system  and  organization,  so  that  in  so 
far  as  possible  their  advantages  may  be  preserved  and  their  disadvantages 
avoided.  Quite  as  much  for  teachers  as  for  supervising  officials  a  study  of 
school  organization  and  management  is  a  necessary  part  of  the  professional 
course. 

10.  To  give  attention  to  the  moral,  mental,  and  social  progress  of  the  child 
will  be  of  small  value  if  we  do  not  at  the  same  time  make  sure  that  he  is  sur¬ 
rounded  by  conditions  that  render  possible  a  healthy  and  vigorous  physical 
development.  The  enforcement  of  compulsory  education  carries  with  it  the 
maintaining  of  proper  hygienic  conditions.  The  daily  routine  of  schoolwork 
will  include  careful  attention  to  school  hygiene  and  instruction  in  this  subject 
should  be  included  in  the  professional  course. 

11.  With  such  professional  equipment  the  teacher  is  prepared  to  start  his 
work  with  a  clear  understanding  of  his  problem  and  can  derive  the  highest 
benefit  from  his  experience.  But  to  start  with  such  an  equipment  is  not 
enough — it  must  be  kept.  The  teacher  who  falls  behind  the  times  is  a  clog 
upon  civilization  at  the  point  of  greatest  hindrance.  Education  is  a  live,  vigor¬ 
ous,  growing  subject,  and  the  teacher  must  know  the  lines  of  that  growth. 
For  this  he  must  depend  largely  upon  his  reading,  but  it  must  be  reading  with 
discrimination.  Every  age  has  brought  forward  some  theory  of  education 
that  has  been  followed  by  large  numbers  for  a  considerable  time  before  its 
fallaciousness  became  apparent.  Every  month  the  educational  journals  of 
the  present  time  set  forth  some  man’s  idea,  promulgate  some  new  theory, 
propose  some  new  device.  Some  of  these  are  good  and  will  in  time  become 
the  commonplaces  of  education;  some  have  elements  of  good,  some  are  wEolly 
and  completely  bad,  and  tho  attractively  presented,  are  based  upon  a  false 
philosophy  and  must  be  ultimately  discarded.  To  read  educational  litera¬ 
ture  understandingly,  so  that  the  true  may  be  sorted  from  the  false,  demands 
a  logical  and  philosophical  training.  The  teacher  not  trained  in  this  becomes 
a  mere  follower,  quite  unable  to  tell  whether  his  leader  is  an  educator  or  an 
impostor.  The  course  in  professional  training  must,  therefore,  include  sound 
training  in  logic,  philosophy,  and  ethics. 

12.  The  order  in  which  the  elements  of  professional  training  have  been 
named  is  not  intended  as  indicating  the  order  of  acquisition.  The  training 
in  logic  and  philosophy  that  will  be  a  protection  against  false  theories  of 
education  after  graduation  will  also  be  of  great  service  to  the  pupil  as  an  under¬ 
graduate,  and  its  elements  at  least  should  come  early  in  the  course.  It  is 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


551 


likewise  undesirable  that  the  theoretical  study  of  the  principles  and  methods 
of  education  be  separated  entirely  from  their  practical  application.  Especially 
for  those  who  have  no  experience  as  teachers  it  is  highly  desirable  that  during 
the  period  of  training  they  have  access  to  a  school  for  observation  and  practice. 
Even  those  with  experience  find  great  profit  in  teaching  under  skilful  criticism. 
The  professional  course  should  include,  therefore,  some  experience  in  practice 
teaching. 

13.  Such  a  course  of  professional  training  as  here  outlined  cannot  be  con¬ 
ducted  with  any  high  degree  of  success  under  the  direct  domination  and 
control  of  the  regular  college  or  university  faculty.  The  attitude  of  the  college 
professor  is  properly  and  necessarily  academic.  His  attention  both  as  a  student 
and  teacher  has  been  so  long  turned  exclusively  to  the  academic  side  that  the 
case  is  rare  indeed  that  he  is  competent  to  offer  professional  instruction  of  even 
medium  quality,  yet  he  is  seldom  conscious  of  this  and  looks  with  contempt 
and  suspicion  upon  the  efforts  of  the  department  of  education  to  discuss  how 
to  teach  a  subject  about  which  it  knows  academically  so  much  less  than  he 
does;  nor  does  he  look  with  favor  upon  allowing  another  department  to  teach 
in  any  way  a  subject  that  belongs  to  his  department.  Education  is,  however, 
an  all-inclusive  subject,  and  the  material  of  the  department  of  education 
embraces  everything  in  all  the  other  departments,  tho  from  an  entirely  different 
point  of  view  and  for  a  different  purpose.  If  must  have  free  range  thru  all 
the  field  of  knowledge  unhampered  by  any  personal  or  departmental  prejudices. 
There  are  great  advantages  derived  from  close  correlation  with  a  college  or 
university,  but  professional  training  in  its  best  form  is  possible  only  when  the 
department  of  education  is  large  enough  to  attain  to  the  dignity  and  organiza¬ 
tion  of  a  separate  college,  to  have  its  own  professors,  and  to  dictate  its  own 
pohcy. 


Ill 

J.  STANLEY  BROWN,  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  JOLIET,  ILL.,  TOWNSHIP 

HIGH  SCHOOL 

According  to  my  scheme  this  subject  is  fairly  treated  under  the  following 
heads: 

(i)  Physical.  (2)  Mental.  (3)  Psychic.  We  have  for  a  long  time  rejected 
the  notion  that  the  valedictorian  of  his  class  is  the  man  from  whom  we  may 
expect  the  greatest  returns,  since  it  must  be  conceded  too  often  that  his  superi¬ 
ority  rests  in  a  trained  mind  only.  Symmetry,  balance,  poise,  or  what  may  be 
put  into  phrase  all-round  development,  is  the  acme  of  desire  in  the  prepara¬ 
tion  of  teachers  for  secondary  schools. 

I.  The  physical  man  demands  the  best  and  most  careful  training  the  col¬ 
lege  and  universities  afford,  because  it  must  be  the  setting  for  all  that  is  ever 
accomplished  by  the  individual.  A  carefully  developed  physique  will  often 
meet  the  deficiency  existing  in  other  directions.  Many  of  the  struggles  which 


552 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


teachers  seem  called  upon  to  endure  are  physical.  Headaches,  deafness, 
impaired  vision,  abnormal  digestion,  irregular  appetite  or  entire  loss  of  appetite 
are  a  few  of  the  physical  defects  which  result  from  our  failure  either  to  use  the 
knowledge  we  have  or  to  secure  the  knowledge  we  ought  to  have.  Most  dis¬ 
agreements  between  teachers  and  students  in  schools  and  colleges  of  all  grades 
may  be  traced,  by  proper  analysis,  to  physical  causes. 

It  ought  to  be  a  part  of  every  teacher’s  daily  gospel  to  be  able  to  say  that 
every  organ  of  his  body  is  performing  its  normal  function.  If  our  daily  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  physical  were  heeded  half  so  well  as  that  to  the  mental,  we  would 
certainly  have  fewer  teachers  with  the  rheumatic  type  of  mind. 

That  the  physical  is  the  most  fundamental  and  ought  to  act  as  a  setting 
,  for  the  other  two  ought  not  to  be  questioned.  The  foundation  must  always 
precede  the  superstructure  in  the  course  of  construction.  The  furniture, 
the  adornments  follow  after  the  foundation,  walls,  etc.,  have  been  completed, 
and  must  ever  be  the  sequence  in  human,  magisterial  development  if  we  would 
accomplish  the  most  with  the  material  at  hand.  When  we  have  learned  to 
give  the  proper  attention  to  the  physical,  sarcasm,  bitterness,  scowls,  impatience, 
extreme  nerv'ousness,  irritability,  etc.,  will  very  largely  disappear  and  in  their 
places  we  shall  find  encouragement,  sweetness,  pleasant  smiles,  patience,  well- 
balanced  nervxs,  etc. 

If  we  had  to  choose  between  a  well-developed  physique  and  a  modicum  of 
mental  training,  or  the  reverse  of  these  two  things,  we  would,,  without  hesita¬ 
tion,  choose  the  former  for  our  boys  and  girls.  Many  of  us  who  have  positions  of 
responsibility  have  been  preaching  with  others,  “send  the  whole  boy  to  school; 
educate  the  whole  boy.”  But  when  the  boy  came  to  school  we  gave  him  books, 
or,  perhaps,  we  excused  ourselves  by  saying,  “this  is  the  kind  of  training  I  had 
and  this  is  good  enough  for  these  boys.” 

If  we  wish  teachers  to  teach  the  whole  boy  we  must  demand  that  the  teacher 
himself  shall  be  educated  in  the  threefold  sense  I  have  mentioned. 

We  as  teachers  are  much  inclined  to  teach  as  we  were  taught.  The  water 
does  not  rise  above  its  level.  We  must  teach  by  example  as  well  as  by  precept. 
It  is  not  enough  for  the  faculty  to  put  off  the  preparation  of  physique  by  saying 
this  belongs  to  the  football  coach,  because  it  is  most  likely  needed  by  aU  other 
members  of  the  faculty  more  than  by  the  athletic  coach. 

Let  boards  of  education  demand  good  physiques  as  well  as  university- 
trained  minds  and  responsive  souls  and  all  will  bestir  themselves  to  meet  the 
conditions.  If  we  accept  Emerson’s  statement  that  “the  test  of  civilization  is 
not  in  the  census,  nor  the  size  of  cities,  nor  the  crops,  but  the  kind  of  men 
the  country  turns  out,”  teachers  ought  to  have  good  bodies  as  well  as  good 
minds  and  souls. 

In  addition  to  the  more  general  development  of  the  body,  teachers  ought  to 
be  participants  in  some  outdoor  exercises,  such  as  walking,  running,  jumping, 
horseback  riding,  bicycle  riding,  tennis,  basket-ball,  base  ball,  rowing,  hunting 
and  other  kinds  of  physical  exercise.  I  am  quite  persuaded  that  no  one 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


553 


except  a  cripple  should  be  graduated  from  college  until  he  has  learned  to  swim. 
This  would  mean  that  a  very  large  per  cent,  of  teachers  in  the  secondary 
schools  would  at  least  know  how^  to  swim.  If  we  teachers  paid  more  attention 
to  the  development  of  the  physique  we  w’ould  have  better  teachers,  better 
schools,  and  much  less  friction  in  the  management  of  the  schools. 

2.  What  shall  be  the  scholastic  training  of  the  mind  of  this  teacher  for 
secondary  schools  is,  in  the  minds  of  some,  considered  to  be  the  most  important, 
in  the  minds  of  others  the  all-important,  but,  in  our  judgment,  on  a  parity 
wdth  the  other  tw'O. 

Other  observations  show  us  that  more  teachers  are  failures  because  of 
insufficient  training  than  from  extra  sufficient,  and  yet  we  maintain  that 
overspecialization  by  secondary-school  teachers  tending  to  make  the  subject 
taught  the  center  of  greatest  importance  and  not  the  boy  taught  is  distinctly 
detrimental.  The  day  has  gone  when  an  indulgent  public  applied  the  name 
“teacher”  to  one  who  performed  the  function  of  a  condenser  and  distributer 
of  knowdedge.  We  are  not  content  with  a  wooden,  mechanical,  commercial 
t)q)e  of  teacher.  The  teacher  today  must  be  a  live  wire  with  an  ever-increasing 
current,  and  that  in  order  to  meet  the  present  demands  with  a  fair  degree  of 
satisfaction.  The  secondary  teacher  ought  to  complete  the  four-years’  course 
in  a  secondary  school,  four  years  in  a  good  college,  and  then  take  a  year  of  pro¬ 
fessional  training  either  in  a  normal  school  or  school  of  education.  The  prepar¬ 
ation  cannot  continue  to  satisfy,  however,  unless  all  the  best  in  pedagogical 
literature  is  constantly  sought  and  appropriated.  It  is  often  posited  that  a 
teacher'in  high  school  cannot  have  too  much  preparation  for  his  work,  but  I 
am  convinced  that  the  completion  of  w^ork  for  the  doctor’s  degree  is  not 
desirable  for  one  who  expects  to  teach  secondary-school  students,  because  to 
do  w'ell  in  such  work  the  field  must  be  very  narrow  and  the  effort  intense. 
There  can  be  little  or  no  thought  given  to  boy  pedagogics  if  one’s  wffiole  thought 
is  given  to  the  subject,  and  hence,  we  incline  to  give  to  the  Ph.D.  earned 
in  cursu,  a  place  in  college  or  university,  but  not  in  secondary  schools  as  most 
are  conducted  at  present. 

Foreign  travel  is  very  desirable  for  secondary  teachers  because  it  renders 
real  so  much  that  has  hitherto  been  admired  in  our  college  or  university 
training,  but  has  to  be  limited  to  our  narrow  experience.  Seeing  a  great 
mountain  or  a  magnificent  cataract  forever  fixes  the  concept  as  no  amount  of 
reading  or  oral  description  can  do.  I  would  not  make  this  mandatory  but  it 
ought  to  be  held  out  as  an  inducement  to  become  worth  more  in  public  service. 

We  have  spoken  in  the  main  concerning  the  scholastic  preparation  before 
regular  service,  as  an  instructor  begins,  but  no  one  who  has  had  any  experience 
in  teaching  or  who  has  even  observed  the  work  of  the  teacher  would  think  that 
this  is  anything  but  the  beginning  of  preparation,  and  is  simply  intended  to 
meet  the  first  general  requirement.  The  man  or  woman  in  the  teaching  pro¬ 
fession  who  does  not  see  to  it  that  his  or  her  preparation  to  do  effective  work 
increases  year  by  year  is  scarcely  worthy  to  belong  to  the  profession,  and  so 


554 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


the  leaders  in  educational  advancement  must  read  the  best  journals,  study 
educational  movements  at  home  and  abroad,  visit  the  best  schools  of  any  and 
all  grades,  attend  teachers’  conventions,  pedagogic  clubs,  do  correspondence 
work  along  lines  not  touched  by  the  universities  ten  years  ago,  and  withal 
keep  abreast  of  the  times. 

The  teacher’s  preparation  must  keep  pace  with  the  preparation  of  the  men 
and  women  of  other  professions.  The  best  schools  of  law  and  medicine  require 
six,  seven,  or  eight  years  of  college  and  university  above  the  high-school  course, 
and  the  tendency  at  present  is  toward  an  increase  rather  than  a  diminution  in 
the  work.  The  teacher  must  either  keep  up  with  the  highest  and  best  demands 
of  the  times,  or  be  relegated  to  a  position  of  constantly  diminishing  worth. 

3.  Let  us  turn  now  to  the  third  phase  of  this  subject.  The  moral  force  of 
any  teacher  among  students  is  manifested  much  more  in  what  he  really  is  than 
in  what  he  really  does.  Teachers  are  too  often  looked  upon  as  negative 
forces  simply  because  they  refrain  from  doing  something  whose  moral 
quality  is  mentioned  and  yet  do  nothing  positive  and  aggressive  to  take  the 
place  of  the  injurious  act. 

Moral  character,  psychic  force,  does  not  need  expression  in  word,  and  such 
expression  would  often  be  ineffective  because  these  things  do  not  easily  lend 
themselves  to  description. 

Honesty,  justice,  love  for  a  square  deal,  must  find  a  place  in  the  character 
of  the  teacher  if  he  is  to  create  and  maintain  among  his  students  an  atmosphere 
above  reproach  in  his  dealings  with  all  the  vexed  and  perplexing  questions 
that  may  come  up.  Since  we  are  a  Christian  nation,  and  since  religion  is  the 
recognized  basis  of  soul  culture,  religious  training  should  be  as  carefully 
secured  by  the  secondary  teacher  as  training  of  mind  or  body  We  are  some¬ 
times  prone  to  forget  that  great  paragraph  in  the  famous  ordinance  of  1787. 
“Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  the  perpetuity  of  a  free 
government,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged.” 
Our  fathers  placed  religion  jirst,  morality  second,  and  knowledge  third.  We 
need  to  return  to  the  doctrines  of  our  fathers.  In  our  scheme  of  preparation 
for  teaching  we  are  inclined  to  give  place  to  ethics,  or  temperance,  or  to  a  few 
lectures  on  purity,  when  we  ought  to  stand  for  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law. 
Setting  aside  the  question  of  where  this  preparation  in  morals,  soul  culture,  and 
religion  may  be  secured,  whether  at  home,  in  church,  in  school,  or  in  all,  w'e 
must  admit  that  these  qualities  are  very  vital  and  must  be  emphasized  in  the 
preparation  of  the  teacher.  ,The  kind  of  man  we  turn  out  will  be  woe¬ 
fully  deficient  if  he  lacks  moral  character  and  real  religious  attitude  of 
mind. 

Jesus,  whose  teaching  we  look  upon  as  the  best  known  in  the  Christian 
world,  was  the  greatest  teacher  the  world  has  ever  seen  or  known.  There 
is  no  great  pedagogical  scheme  that  cannot  be  traced  directly  to  the 
methods  and  teachings  of  Jesus.  If  we  teachers  could  teach  as  he  taught, 
we,  too,  could  revolutionize  the  world  in  three  years  or  less.  Let  us  then  incul- 


Department]  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


555 


cate  this  teaching  as  representing  the  best  in  character  building,  psychic 
culture,  and  ethical  dogma. 

We  have  tried  to  show  that  the  preparation  for  teaching  in  secondary 
schools  ought  to  show  a  symmetrical  development,  that  this  development 
should  include  body,  mind,  and  soul;  that  proper  physical  development 
should  mean  good  digestion,  good  nerve  power,  good  endurance,  good  dispo¬ 
sition,  good  organic  functioning,  and  a  cheery,  responsive  individual;  that 
the  proper  development  of  the  mind  may  be  met  by  graduation  from  secondary 
schools  and  association  with  secondary-school  people;  by  graduation  from 
college,  together  with  the  association  of  the  college;  by  completing  either  at  a 
school  of  education  or  a  good  normal  school  one  year’s  work  in  professional 
courses.  Added  to  this  scholastic  preparation  may  come  foreign  travel, 
pedagogic  study  in  paper  and  magazine,  attendance  on  school  conventions, 
clubs,  etc.,  and  these  with  a  view  to  keeping  abreast  of  the  times. 

Finally,  and  in  many  respects  most  important,  is  the  psychic  preparation 
which  has  fundamentally  to  do  with  the  religion  of  Jesus.  Whether  obtained 
in  the  school,  the  home,  or  the  church,  it  is  vital  in  the  development  of  the 
highest  type  of  teacher  in  the  Christian  man  or  the  Christian  woman.  When 
we  have  carefully  directed  the  training  along  these  three  lines  which  must  run 
parallel  with  one  another,  we  have  done  what  seems  best  in  the  production  of  a 
symmetrically  developed  teacher. 

IV 

ELLWOOD  P.  CUBBERLEY,  PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION,  LELAND  STANFORD  JR. 

UNIVERSITY 

The  secondary  school  is  pre-eminently  the  place  where  the  boy  or  girl  is 
brought  into  contact,  not  only  with  new  forms  of  knowledge,  but  with  new 
ideas,  new  ideals,  and  new  methods  of  work  and  of  investigation.  It  is  the 
place  for  the  broadening  of  the  boy  or  girl  in  culture,  appreciation,  and  insight, 
no  less  than  in  knowledge.  It  is  these  new  ideals,  new  methods  of  work,  and 
increased  culture  and  appreciation  which  give  point  and  effectiveness  to  the 
whole  secondary-school  training.  While  they  are  inseparable  from  knowl¬ 
edge,  they  are  worth  even  more  than  the  knowledge  which  the  school  imparts. 

When  one  thus  considers  the  secondary  schools,  either  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  needs  of  the  adolescent  or  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  subject- 
matter  to  be  taught,  one  can  scarcely  overemphasize  the  importance  of  the 
proper  preparation  of  the  high-school  teacher.  Just  as  we  emphasize  the  need 
of  broader  knowledge  and  culture  for  the  teacher  in  the  elementary  school,  in 
order  that  she  may  know  more  than  she  is  expected  to  teach  and  be  able  to 
make  her  teaching  broader  than  the  mere  course  of  study  or  the  textbook  she 
uses,  so  must  we  insist  that  the  teacher  for  the  secondary  school  shall  know 
more  and  shall  have  had  a  broader  and  more  extensive  training  than  that 
offered  by  the  secondary  schools  themselves  or  by  the  normal  schools  of  the 
state. 


556 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


I.  Much  of  the  work  of  the  high  school  of  today,  with  its  elective  courses, 
many  subjects  of  instruction,  and  advanced  instruction  along  certain  lines, 
is  fully  as  advanced  as  that  done  in  the  first  year  of  the  college  course.  Unless 
the  teacher  in  the  high  school  has  come  in  contact  with  men  who  are  masters 
of  their  subjects,  has  caught  something  of  the  masters’  spirit  of  dealing  with 
the  great  truths  that  lie  in  this  field,  and  has  learned  something  of  that  method 
which,  after  all,  is  only  organized  common  sense,  which  men  of  larger  scholar¬ 
ship  apply  to  the  solution  of  difficult  problems,  he  is  not  likely  to  carry  much 
of  a  message  to  the  young  people  who  come  under  his  direction  in  the  secondary 
school.  This  practically  demands  that  the  teachers  in  our  secondary  schools 
shall  be  college  graduates,  and  shall  have  prepared  themselves  specially  for 
the  work  which  they  propose  to  do.  The  secondary  school  itself  does  not 
offer  such  opportunities,  and  our  normal  schools,  devoted  as  they  are  and 
ought  to  be  to  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  elementary  schools,  cannot 
adequately  give  such  training. 

The  secondary-school  teacher  is  distinctively  in  need  of  three  things,  viz.: 
(i)  broad  general  knowledge;  (2)  special  knowledge,  and  (3)  professional 
knowledge.  Other  things  being  equal,  the  broader  the  teacher’s  general 
knowledge  the  more  useful  he  will  be.  This  general  knowledge,  or  broad 
liberal  culture,  is  largely  a  product  of  opportunities  and  experiences.  Larger 
educational  opportunities  in  an  atmosphere  of  scholarship  and  culture,  with 
travel,  are  the  best  means  of  securing  it. 

'2.  Special  knowledge  of  an  advanced  nature  in  the  fields  in  which  the 
candidate  proposes  to  teach  is  an  absolute  necessity.  It  cannot  be  emphasized 
too  much  that  the  person  who  desires  to  teach  in  our  high  schools  must  know 
that  which  he  is  to  teach.  That  fair  or  indifferent  successes  are  made  today  in 
many  of  our  high  schools  by  teachers  who  are  teaching  subjects  which  they 
have  made  little  or  no  preparation  to  teach  is  no  argument  against  the  prin¬ 
ciple.  Where  such  teachers  are  employed  one  generally  finds  that  the  com¬ 
munity  lacks  proper  standards  as  to  what  high-school  education  should  be, 
or  sufficient  funds  to  properly  maintain  a  high  school,  or  both.  One  of  the 
best  guarantees  for  successful  teaching,  tho  by  no  means  an  absolute  or  a 
sufficient  one,  is  that  the  candidate  shall  have  made  careful  preparation  for  the 
work  of  instruction  in  a  given  subject.  One  of  the  greatest  weaknesses  and 
reproaches  of  the  American  secondary  schools-  today  is  the  altogether  too 
common  lack  of  any  adequate  preparation  on  the  part  of  the  teachers,  and  the 
general  indifference  of  the  state  in  the  matter. 

3.  In  addition  to  general  and  special  knowledge,  the  prospective  teacher 
needs  professional  knowledge.  By  professional  knowledge  is  meant  profes¬ 
sional  preparation  for  the  actual  work  of  instruction  and  a  professional  attitude 
toward  the  work  of  the  public  secondary  school.  To  this  end  the  prospective 
high-school  teacher  should  be  required,  during  the  last  two  years  of  his  college 
course,  to  make  a  somewhat  general  study  of  the  work  and  problems  of  public 
education  in  a  democratic  society  such  as  our  own;  the  work,  purpose,  and 


Department]  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


557 


special  problems  of  secondary  education,  with  some  comparison  with  condi¬ 
tions  in  a  few  European  states;  the  psychology  of  instruction  and  of  the 
adolescent  period;  special  teachers’  courses  in  the  subjects  in  which  recom¬ 
mendation  is  sought;  and  some  practical  experience  (how  much  is  needed 
will  vary  greatly  with  different  individuals)  in  instruction  and  class  manage¬ 
ment.  It  would  be  well  if  the  candidate,  in  addition,  should  know  something 
of  the  history  of  education,  and  especially  the  history  of  education  in  our  own 
country.  I  place  the  history  of  education  after  the  others  because  it  is  largely 
cultural  and  inspirational  instead  of  technical. 

One  of  the  most  important  legislative  steps  to  be  taken  by  most  of  our 
states  in  the  matter  of  certificating  teachers  is  the  complete  separation  of  the 
credentials  necessary  to  teach  in  a  high  school  from  those  necessary  to  teach  in 
an  elementar}^  school,  and  the  erection  of  distinctly  higher  standards  for  the 
high-school  certificate.  In  view  of  the  possibility  of  a  six-year  high  school 
becoming  somewhat  general  the  high-school  certificate  should  not  be  limited 
too  closely  as  to  its  validity,  but  the  elementaiy^-school  certificate,  of  any  grade, 
should  never  be  valid  for  instruction  in  a  high  school. 

In  the  erection  of  such  a  special  certificate  for  high-school  teaching  we 
obviously  cannot  depend  upon  the  written  examination.  The  standard  of 
competency  in  general,  special,  and  professional  knowledge  set  above  prac¬ 
tically  demands  that  the  secondary-school  teacher  shall  have  had  a  college 
education,  or  its  substantial  equivalent.  To  examine  the  candidate  on  the  sub¬ 
jects  studied  in  college  would  be  not  only  almost  impossible,  but  ridiculous 
as  well.  To  attempt  to  enforce  the  higher  standard  by  an  examination  given 
on  the  subjects  to  be  taught  in  the  high  school  will  also  fail,  for  the  reason  that 
the  high-school  graduate,  fresh  from  his  studies,  can  almost  always  pass  the 
examinations  more  easily  and  with  better  grades  than  the  college  graduate. 
The  result  will  almost  always  inevitably  be  that  in  certain  localities  there  will 
not  be  a  college  graduate  in  the  high  schools.  This  was  clearly  the  experience 
of  California  under  the  old  optional  examination  plan,  and  was  one  of  the 
strongest  arguments  which  led  to  the  abolition  of  the  examination  for  the 
high-school  certificate.  The  only  safe  way  to  do  is  to  make  the  possession  of 
a  degree  from  some  reputable  college  an  absolute  prerequisite  for  high-school 
teaching,  and  to  grant  high-school  certificates  only  to  those  who,  in  addition 
to  the  degree,  present  evidence  of  special  and  professional  preparation  for  the 
work  of  teaching  in  secondary  schools. 

In  many  of  our  states  the  absolute  enforcement  of  such  a  requirement 
would  not  be  possible  at  present,  but  in  almost  every  northern  and  western 
state  a  movement  looking  in  that  direction  is  possible  now.  The  first  step  in 
the  process  is  the  definite  recognition  of  secondary-school  work  as  a  field  which 
demands  special  and  additional  preparation,  and  the  separation  of  high-school 
certificates  from  elementary  certificates.  The  former  should  then  be  based 
on  higher  educational  standards,  and  college  diplomas  and  other  evidences 
of  preparation  should  be  recognized  as  the  full  equivalent  of  the  subject- 


558 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


matter  examination.  The  second  step  in  the  process,  to  be  taken  as  soon  as 
the  supply  of  properly  educated  and  trained  teachers  equals  the  demand,  is 
to  diminish  in  frequency  and  importance  and  finally  to  entirely  abolish  the 
subject-matter  examination  and  thus  make  the  possession  of  evidence  of  proper 
education  and  training  a  prerequisite  for  the  granting  of  the  high-school  certifi¬ 
cate.  When  such  conditions  come  to  prevail  somewhat  generally,  and  not  until 
then,  can  we  be  said  to  have  an  educated  and  a  professionally  trained  teaching 
force  in  our  secondary  schools. 


V 

CHARLES  DE  GARMO,  PROEESSOR  OF  THE  SCIENCE  AND  ART-  OF  EDUCATION, 

CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 

I.  Practically  all  institutions  for  the  training  of  teachers,  to  be  found  in 
the  United  States,  are  adjusted  to  elementary  standards.  Even  in  college  and 
university  professional  courses  the  ideals  of  the  earlier  stages  of  education  have 
heretofore  predominated.  We  are  just  beginning  to  realize  that  the  profes¬ 
sional  training  of  secondary  teachers  differs  from  that  of  primary  teachers, 
not  only  in  degree  but  often  also  in  kind. 

In  the  first  place,  so  far  as  subject-matter  is  concerned,  training  for  ele¬ 
mentary  teaching  circles  about  the  common  branches,  which  everybody  is 
supposed  to  know,  which  all  teachers  must  teach,  and  all  learners  learn.  But 
the  case  is  different  with  preparation  for  secondary  teaching.  Here  the 
subject-matter  is  so  extensive  that  no  teacher  can  teach  and  no  learner  learn  it 
all.  It  follows  therefore  that  the  student  must  choose  (or  have  prescribed) 
what  he  shall  study,  and  the  teacher  must  select  a  department  of  knowledge 
in  which  he  may  become  a  special,  or  departmental  teacher. 

Out  of  these  relations  there  arises  the  need  for  a  kind  of  professional  study 
that  is  but  slightly  felt  in  elementary  circles — that  namely,  of  relative  practical 
and  educational  values.  For,  how,  except  by  pure  tradition  or  by  mere  per¬ 
sonal  preference,  can  a  course  of  study  be  wisely  advised  for  any  given  student 
unless  the  adviser  is  fairly  clear  as  to  the  educational  and  practical  significance, 
both  immediate  and  remote,  of  each  distinctive  department  of  knowledge  ? 
And  how,  moreover,  can  one  be  expected  to  make  his  students  realize  these 
benefits  if  he  himself  knows  not  what  they  are  ? 

It  is  perhaps  natural  that  those  who  believe  in  the  sacredness  of  a  certain 
course  of  study  as  universally  valid  condemn  the  study  of  educational  values, 
because  they  condemn  the  introduction  of  branches  that  would  in  some  degree 
displace  those  they  have.  Thus  I  read  in  report  of  a  recent  Berlin  speech  in 
favor  of  classical  training  that  “the  brazen  lords  of  nature  are  not  the  elected 
teachers  of  the  immature.”  Some  there  may  be  who  prefer  the  “brazenness” 
of  nature  to  that  of  such  advisers.  At  any  rate,  I  submit  that  it  is  a  proper  thing 
for  the  secondary  teacher  to  be  properly  instructed  as  to  what  significance  for 
life  and  for  individual  development  the  study  of  the  various  natural  sciences 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


559 


has;  in  what  these  sciences  differ  in  their  effects  upon  the  mind,  both  as  con¬ 
trasted  with  one  another,  and  wdth  literary  or  historical  studies  ?  Where 
there  are  world-wide  differences  in  the  content  of  the  studies,  there  must  be 
significant  differences  in  the  educational  results  which  the  various  studies 
should  bring  about  in  mental  training.  To  make  the  old  assumption  that 
training  is  training,  that  only  difference  in  degree  exists,  that  each  subject  is  an 
equivalent  for  every  other  in  the  degree  of  its  effect,  is  to  adhere  to  a  super¬ 
stition  as  incredible  as  that  which  ascribes  green  cheese  to  lunar  composition. 
It  is  to  shut  one’s  eyes  to  the  teachings  both  of  psychologic  and  common  sense 
alike.  There  are  sciences  whose  basis  is  mathematical  law;  there  are  others 
whose  basis  is  the  unfolding  of  life — one  group  is  demonstrative,  dealing  with 
the  exact  and  law-accordant,  the  other  is  inductive,  dealing  with  uncertain, 
often  bewildering  data.  Compare,  for  instance,  the  study  of  a  bird  wdth  that 
of  a  pump.  The  latter  is  comprehended  w’hen  its  mechanical  principle  is  once 
understood;  but  when  is  one  done  wdth  the  study  of  a  bird  ?  We  may  study 
its  life  history,  or  its  anatomy.  The  latter  is  almost  wdthout  limit  in  its  possi¬ 
bilities.  Again,  the  mathematical  sciences  require  for  their  retention  that 
form  of  memory  which  rests  upon  clear  insight  into  fixed  law^s,  w^hereas  the 
biological  sciences  are  retained  in  mind  thru  a  mastery  of  classification  and 
an  understanding  of  function.  Likewdse,  the  form  of  imagination  stimulated 
by  the  two  groups  differs  as  radically  in  kind.  If  the  nature  poets  had  only 
the  mathematical  quality  of  imagination,  it  w^ere  a  sorry  task  to  read  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  had  the  engineer  only  the  biological  quality  of  imagination, 
w'e  should  hesitate  to  cross  his  bridges  or  trust  ourselves  on  his  ships. 

If  the  sciences  differ  so  radically  among  themselves  in  their  effect  upon 
the  mind,  wTat  shall  w^e  say  of  the  contrasts  they  afford  w'hen  compared  wdth 
linguistic,  literary  and  artistic,  and  historical  subjects  ?  Literature  and  art 
deal  wdth  ethics  and  aesthetics;  history  deals  wdth  contingent  causes — those 
that  might  have  been  otherwise,  had  the  circumstances  of  race,  situation, 
education,  economic  conditions,  passion,  ability,  or  w'hat  not,  been  different. 
What  man,  not  mole  blind,  could  confound  wdth  one  another  the  distinct 
educational  effects  that  these  various  groups  may  have  upon  mind,  he'art,  and 
destiny  of  a  student  ?  And  wLat  secondary  teacher  is  qualified  for  leadership 
in  this  field  wLo  has  not  turned  his  attention  to  the  fundamental  truths  that 
must  underlie  every  rational  course  of  study,  whether  in  a  special  or  general 
high  school? 

2.  Such  a  study  of  educational  values  must,  moreover,  precede  and 
underlie  all  rational  study  of  methodology.  Having  only  vague  ideas  of  the 
ends  which  a  study  should  subseiw*e,  how  can  a  teacher  be  adequately  prepared 
in  the  best  methods  of  teaching  it  ?  And  here  it  must  be  clear  that  method 
means  to  the  secondary  teacher  something  different  from  what  it  means  to 
the  elementary  teacher.  It  is  perhaps  more  special  than  general;  or,  at  any 
rate,  it  falls  more  naturally  into  groups  in  accordance  w’ith  the  characteristic 
quality  of  the  departments  of  study.  Thirty  years  ago,  for  example,  scientific 


560 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


method  was  quite  undeveloped;  now  it  has  developed  so  far  in  the  universities 
that  it  not  only  rivals  but,  in  many  respects,  surpasses  in  completeness  of 
instrumentalities  that  which  obtains  in  the  older  subjects.  It  has,  for  instance 
its  laboratories  with  a  place  and  a  distinct  set  of  apparatus  for  every  student 
and  an  elbow-to-elbow  assistant  for  every  ten  students.  It  has  its  lecture 
system  which  is  kept  in  touch  with  the  laboratory  work,  and  it  has,  finally,  its 
group  system  of  recitations  upon  the  combined  work  of  lectures  and  laboratory, 
and  of  textbook  study.  No  such  elaborate  and  far-reaching  ways  of  imparting 
knowledge  have  ever  been  devised  even  in  languages  and  mathematics,  to  say 
nothing  of  history,  economics,  and  social  sciences. 

As  in  the  university,  so  in  the  high  school  the  question  of  method  rests  upon 
a  more  technical  basis  than  in  the  case  of  the  elementary  school.  The  candi¬ 
date  for  the  high-school  teachership  should  base  his  study  of  method  upon  the 
nature  of  the  subject-matter,  the  effects  it  should  have  in  mental  training,  and 
upon  the  methods  that  have  been  effective  in  its  development.  He  should  not, 
if  he  is  to  teach  science,  be  unacquainted  with  such  books  as  Bain’s  Inductive 
Logic,  and  Jevon’s  Principles  oj  Science,  for  these  give  him  an  enduring  insight 
into  the  nature  of  his  subject  and  the  best  ways  to  make  it  effective  in  the  school¬ 
room.  After  a  general  methodical  study  of  this  kind,  the  candidate  should 
make  a  special  study  of  the  admirable  books  now  issuing  from  the  press,  such 
as  the  series  by  Macmillan  and  that  by  Longmans  which  are  devoted  to  par¬ 
ticular  study.  What  can  not  a  teacher  of  English  learn  from  such  a  com¬ 
pendium  as  that  of  Carpenter,  Baker,  and  Scott,  or  the  teacher  of  mathematics 
from  that  of  David  Eugene  Smith,  or  of  Professor  Young? 

3.  For  the  secondary  teacher  the  study  of  the  history  of  education  should 
be  more  thorogoing  and  more  special  than  it  is  for  elementary  teachers.  While 
he  should,  of  course,  follow  the  development  of  universal  education  as  seen 
in  the  elementary  schools,  he  should  at  the  same  time  give  much  attention  to 
Greek  ideals  of  culture  and  instruction  since  these  have  been  so  important  in 
determining  the  curriculum  of  modem  high  schools.  Upon  this  study  of  the 
sources  of  educational  ideas,  the  student  is  prepared  to  base  his  future  study 
of  the  rise  and  development  of  language  as  an  educational  means.  In  a 
similar  way  he  should  follow  the  introduction  and  development  of  mathematics, 
natural  science,  and  history  in  the  curriculum.  It  is  well  within  reasonable 
expectations  that  the  university  student  should  master  the  admirable  text  of 
Professor  Monroe  upon  the  History  oj  Education,  and  do  not  a  little  collateral 
reading  besides. 

4.  With  respect  to  the  psychological  basis  for  the  study  of  education,  it 
must  first  of  all  be  remarked  that  the  secondary-departmental  teacher  will  not 
be  a  psychologist,  for  it  takes  five  years  to  make  a  psychologist.  What  we  may 
fairly  expect  from  him,  as  a  minimum,  is  a  half-year’s  study  of  general  psy¬ 
chology,  and  an  equal  expenditure  of  time  upon  applied,  or  educational, 
psychology,  the  emphasis  being  laid  upon  the  period  of  adolescence. 

5.  The  most  difficult  and  most  debated  part  of  professional  training  for  . 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


561 


secondary  teachers  is  that  of  practice.  The  persons  now  most  active  in  this 
discussion  are  those  engaged  in  elementary  training,  not  the  principals  of  high 
schools  or  university  authorities.  It  seems  natural  to  think  that  if  the  practice 
school  is  a  good  thing  in  preparing  elementary  teachers,  it  would  be  an  equally 
good  thing  in  fitting  secondary  teachers  for  their  work.  Yet  the  matter  needs 
some  consideration  on  its  owm  merits,  and  may  need  much  experimentation 
before  it  is  satisfactorily  settled. 

So  far  we  have  had  little  successful  demonstration  that  a  secondary  practice 
school  in  the  university  is  either  practicable  or  desirable.  No  one  would 
assume  for  a  moment  that  a  subject  of  such  importance  can  be  disposed  of  by 
a  mere  appeal  to  experience,  positive  or  negative.  Because  a  thing  has  been 
so  or  so  adjusted  in  experience,  long  or  short,  home  or  foreign,  we  have  no 
warrant  for  closing  the  debate,  for  the  essence  of  progress  often  consists  in 
innovation.  Yet  an  appeal  to  experience  is  the  natural  introduction  to  a 
discussion  of  principle.  In  Germany  the  most  weight  has  been  laid  upon  the 
development  of  productive  departmental  scholarship,  as  a  preparation  for 
teaching  in  secondary  schools.  Only  the  man  who  knows  his  subject  well 
enough  to  continue  its  development  is,  in  Germany,  theoretically  fit  to  teach 
it  in  a  gymnasium.  This  condition  being  met,  the  German  candidate  may 
turn  his  mind  to  other  things.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  two  state  examina¬ 
tions  to  be  taken  subsequent  to  his  university  study  in  which  the  history  and 
principles  of  education  are  included.  The  secondary  schools,  being  state 
institutions,  and  their  teachers  being  state  officials,  the  next  step  is  to  assign 
the  young  candidate  to  some  gjinnasium  or  school  of  similar  rank  for  a  year 
of  trial  or  cadet  teaching  without  salary  under  the  supervision  of  the  director 
of  the  institution.  Wffien  the  authorities  are  satisfied  that  the  candidate  can 
teach  well,  and  when  there  is  a  place  to  which  he  can  be  assigned,  his  perma¬ 
nent  appointment  as  a  teacher  follows.  There  are  but  few  practice  schools 
connected  with  German  universities,  and  what  there  are  busy  themselves 
entirely  with  practice  in  elementary  grades.  This  practice  is  of  use  to  the 
supervisor  of  elementary  instruction,  but  the  question  is  an  open  one  as  to  how 
useful  it  is  to  the  real  secondary  teacher. 

In  the  United  States  the  practice  of  Germany  is  followed  to  a  limited  extent, 
as  at  Harvard  and  Browm  with  graduate  students,  while  some  are  cherishing 
the  hope  which,  in  some  cases  amounts  to  expectation,  of  establishing  secondary 
practice  schools  modeled  after  those  of  the  normal  schools.  It  would  be 
premature  to  declare  that  the  inherent  difficulties  lying  in  the  situation  cannot 
be  overcome  in  this  manner.  Of  one  thing,  however,  we  may  be  assured,  that 
the  means  provided  for  giving  the  candidate  his  first  practice  in  teaching,  will 
in  the  end  be  those  that  conform  most  closely  to  .the  public  interests  concerned. 
Preconceived  ideas,  analogy  with  other  institutions,  practices  of  other  countries, 
will  all  have  to  be  measured  by  this  standard.  While  w'e  await  the  solution  of 
the  problem,  as  it  will  ultimately  be  worked  out,  it  is  perhaps  allowable  to  con¬ 
sider  the  subject  as  it  presents  itself  from  theoretical  and  practical  standpoints. 


562 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


What  shall  we  say,  first  of  all,  to  the  assumption  that  one  may  learn  to  do 
one  thing  well  by  doing  another  ?  Or,  perhaps,  that  teaching  is  teaching,  the 
same  thing  in  the  high  as  in  the  primary  school,  and  that  if  you  get  good  prac¬ 
tice  in  the  grades  it  will  servx  you  equally  well  in  the  high  school  ?  This 
assumption  must  be  seen  to  have  decided  limitations,  because  of  the  great 
differences  between  the  two  stages  of  school  life.  Young  children  are 
most  effectively  managed  by  an  affectionate  exercise  of  authority;  high- 
school  students,  on  the  other  hand,  are  most  tractable  when  managed  in 
accordance  with  the  usages  of  good  society.  Authority  there  may  be,  nay, 
must  be  in  the  high  school,  but  it  is  veiled  by  the  social  covering  of  politeness. 
To  treat  students  as  children  is  to  be  weak  where  one  should  be  strong,  for 
however  childish  some  of  their  actions  may  seem,  we  may  be  assured  that  the 
feelings  of  American  youth  are  those  natural  to  the  adolescent.  The  younger 
and  more  numerous  in  the  class  the  children  are,  the  greater  the  need  of  peda¬ 
gogical  technique;  the  older  they  become,  the  less  need  there  is  for  it.  It 
easily  happens  that  the  teacher  trained  in  the  methods  of  the  primary  school, 
but  transferred  to  a  high  school,  fails  to  arouse  the  best  efforts  of  the  students 
because  he  fails  to  apprehend  the  maturity  of  their  capacity  and  feelings. 
The  contact  of  mind  with  subject-matter  is  much  more  intimate  and  immediate 
in  the  high  school  than  it  can  be  in  the  grades.  The  intermediation  of  ele¬ 
mentary  devices  for  stimulating  and  Riding  thought  are  far  less  necessary 
and  desirable.  The  method  of  thought  inherent  in  the  development  of  the 
subject-matter  itself  becomes  increasingly  important  as  the  student  grows 
older,  until  in  the  university  we  often  find  impatience  in  any  mediation  between 
a  subject  of  study  and  the  mind  of  the  student.  The  school  man  is  rather 
inclined  to  condemn  all  teaching  as  unpedagogical  that  does  not  use  the  means 
of  mediation  with  which  he  is  familiar  and  which  may  be  highly  successful 
where  he  is  wont  to  try  them.  But  such  condemnation  may  be  wholly  unjusti¬ 
fied,  as  in  the  case  of  many  famous  teachers  of  language,  history,  and  science. 
He  is  the  best  teacher  who  best  succeeds  in  arousing  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
his  students  to  genuine  educative  activity,  and  while  there  is  a  wholesome 
methodology  for  the  high-school  teacher,  I  seriously  question  whether  it  is 
closely  related  to  the  technique  so  commonly  employed  in  training  elementary 
teachers.  For  the  foregoing  reasons  I  do  not  think  that  in  principle  we  should 
train  secondary  teachers  in  elementary  practice  schools. 

By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  an  elementary  experiment  school  may  not  be  of 
great  educational  worth  in  a  university;  but  the  function  of  such  a  school  is  not 
the  training  of  secondary  teachers. 

Are  practice  schools  of  true  high-school  rank  desirable  and  obtainable  in 
connection  with  colleges  and  universities?  Their  educational  desirability  is 
dependent  upon  their  educational  (and  it  may  be  financial)  cost.  Advantages 
there  would  doubtless  be  in  such  practice  schools,  but  it  may  be  easily  conceived 
that  we  find  the  community  would  have  to  pay  too  high  a  price  for  them. 

In  all  our  older  communities  the  high-school  teacher  is  a  specialist  both 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


563 


because  he  wants  to  be  one  and  because  the  school  authorities  demand  that  he 
shall  be.  A  successful  practice  school  of  secondary  grade  should  therefore 
be  a  large  one  to  afford  the  desirable  practice  in  many  branches  of  study  and 
kinds  of  schools.  A  teacher  of  languages  would  not  be  greatly  inspired  or 
guided  by  the  teaching  of  a  science,  nor  would  the  future  specialist  in  history  be 
much  helped  by  teaching  a  class  in  mathematics.  When  we  remember  that 
universities  must  graduate  large  numbers  of  prospective  teachers  each  year, 
every  one  of  whom  has  specialized  in  one  or  two  departments,  we  can  easily 
see  that  such  a  practice  school  as  contemplated  would  cost  a  formidable  sum 
of  money.  But  in  America  we  need  not  be  deterred  by  cost,  if  what  we  want 
is  what  the  people  want,  or  the  cause  of  education  imperatively  demands. 

Under  favorable  circumstances  the  people  will  stand  and  even  pay  for  a 
practice  school  of  elementary  grade,  but  experience  makes  it  questionable 
whether  the  public  is  willing  to  furnish  students  and  money  for  one  of  secondary 
grade.  An  indication  of  the  public  aversion  to  such  an  arrangement  is  the 
potent  fact  that  a  private  high  school,  like  the  Horace  Mann  School  of  Teachers 
College,  for  instance,  would  soon  lose  a  large  share  of  its  patronage  were  it  to 
introduce  practice  teaching  in  any  considerable  quantity.  What  the  private 
public  will  not  listen  to,  the  public  as  such  will  probably  in  the  end  reject  as 
an  unjustifiable  burden  upon  a  few.  And  what  no  public  will  submit  to, 
university  boards  of  education  are  not  likely  to  be  willing  to  pay  for,  since 
it  must  be  evident  that  in  public  opinion  the  advantages  of  such  training 
would  be  too  dearly  bought. 

The  outcome  of  the  foregoing  argument  may  be  summed  up  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  propositions ; 

1.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  establish  elementary  practice  schools  for  the 
training  of  secondary  teachers. 

2.  Practice  schools  of  secondary  grade,  tho  having  some  advantages  both 
for  the  individual  and  the  community,  would  be  but  meagerly  supported  both 
as  to  quality  and  number  of  students  and  the  money  necessary  to  conduct  them. 

I  conclude,  therefore,  that  for  the  present  we  must  be  satisfied  with  good 
professional  instruction  in  educational  history  and  principles,  supported  by 
a  fundamental  study  of  the  psychological  and  social  sciences;  and  with  such 
practical  instruction  as  may  be  gleaned  from  high-school  visitation  or  gained 
by  occasional  cadetship  in  public  high  schools.  Tho  this  may  not  be  all  that 
is  desirable  in  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers,  it  is  a  great  deal  more 
than  we  have  ever  had. 


VI 

PAUL  H.  HANUS,  PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION,  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

Wliat  ought  a  high-school  teacher  to  be,  and  what  training  should  he  have  ? 
He^  should  be  a  man  of  good  personal  qualities;  and  he  should  possess  sound 

*  For  the  sake  of  brevity  the  masculine  pronoun  only  is  used.  The  entire  paper  applies  to  women  as 
well  as  men. 


5^4 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


I  Secondary 


general  scholarship,  together  with  superior  attainments  in  some  one  field  of 
human  learning  including  the  useful  arts  or  the  fine  arts;  he  should  be  an  ef¬ 
ficient  class-room  teacher  and  manager  of  pupils;  he  should  have  a  professional 
outlook  or  horizon;  he  should  ultimately  become  a  leader  in  his  profession, 
and  a  useful  and  helpful  influence  in  the  community  where  his  lot  is  cast. 

PERSONAL  QUALITIES 

1.  Some  persons  ought  never  to  be  teachers.  Hence,  it  is  our  duty  as 
guardians  of  the  teaching  profession  to  keep  such  persons  out  of  that  profes¬ 
sion  if  we  can,  whatever  their  training  may  be;  as  well  as  to  encourage  and 
even,  on  occasion,  to  persuade  others  to  enter  it. 

To  say  nothing  of  such  disqualifying  and  almost  unmentionable  character¬ 
istics  as  habitual  untidiness  in  person  and  dress,  and  chronic  bad  taste,  it  is 
clear  that  one  who  has  an  inborn  incapacity  for  good  sense  or  fine 'feeling; 
persistent  bad  manners;  an  irritable  or  gloomy  or  despondent  disposition; 
a  stolid  or  sluggish  mind,  incapable  of  intellectual  enthusiasms  and  a  healthy, 
discriminating  optimism;  a  narrow  view  of  men  and  affairs — that  one  who  is  a 
mere -bookworm  or  a  pedant;  or  an  intellectual  or  moral  prig,  incapable  of 
winning  or  holding  the  respect  or  regard  of  his  colleagues  or  his  pupils,  an 
egotist,  or  a  self-seeker — it  is  clear,  I  say,  that  one  who  is  unmistakably  bur¬ 
dened  with  one  or  more  of  these  disqualifying  characteristics  ought  to  be 
kept  out  of  the  teaching  profession. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  absurd  to  set  up  requirements  impossible 
of  realization.  What  we  want,  first  of  all,  in  candidates  for  the  teaching 
profession  are  the  qualities  that  mark  the  gentleman  and  the  lady;  then  we 
want  physical  vigor,  moral  health  and  strength,  and  intellectual  attainments 
and  power.  In  other  words,  we  want  good  personal  qualities,  good  health,  and 
good  general  and  technical  education.  If,  in  addition,  we  occasionally  secure 
the  “born  teacher,”  we  shall  be  as  happy  as  members  of  other  professions  are 
when  the  occasional  rara  avis  appears.  In  what  follows,  good  personal  qualities 
in  the  prospective  secondary-school  teacher  are  assumed.  My  task  is  to  set 
forth  in  some  detail  what  the  preliminary  training  of  such  a  person  should  be  to 
insure  a  good  degree  of  efficiency  at  the  outset  of  his  career  as  a  teacher, 
progressive  skill  in  teaching,  and  a  broadening  and  deepening  interest  in  and 
insight  into  his  profession — such  a  training  as  we  may  reasonably  expect  will 
promote  increasing  professional  usefulness,  in  the  broadest  sense  of  that  term, 
as  time  goes  on. 

SCHOLARSHIP 

2.  The  first  element  of  the  teacher’s  professional  equipment  is  adequate 
scholarship — scholarship  that  is  at  once  broad  and  deep.  This  general  propo¬ 
sition  is,  of  course,  a  commonplace.  But  the  sort  of  scholarship  here  meant 
is  of  such  fundamental  and  far-reaching  importance  and  is  so  often  wanting 
in  high-school  teachers,  that  one  need  not  hesitate  to  discuss  it  in  some  detail. 
The  secondary-school  teacher’s  scholarship  must  be  broad  in  order  that  his 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


565 


intellectual  sympathies  may  be  broad;  in  order  that  he  may  have  an  appre¬ 
ciative  insight  into  the  resources  that  he  and  his  colleagues  have  at  their  com¬ 
mand  for  the  appropriate  education  of  every  pupil  committed  to  their  charge; 
and  his  scholarship  must  be  deep  enough  in  some  one  field  in  order  to  enable 
him  to  reveal  the  sense  of  mastery,  the  intellectual  enthusiasm  and  power 
to  bring  about  results,  that  kindle  the  same  intellectual  emotion  and  the 
same  consciousness  of  growing  power  over  difficulties  in  his  pupil.  The  second¬ 
ary-school  teacher,  more  than  any  other,  must  impart  richness  and  breadth 
to  his  subject,  no  matter  what  it  is.  His  pupil  is  old  enough  to  appreciate  the 
best  he  can  give  him;  and  unless  checked  or  disappointed,  he  is  usually  keen 
enough  to  demand,  or  at  least  desire  unceasingly  an  extension  of  the  meaning, 
implication,  and  application  of  the  results  of  his  ovm  study — of  the  significance 
of  all  he  learns.  And  this  demand  or  desire  only  the  well-equipped  teacher 
can  meet. 

Not  all  pupils,  it  is  true,  manifest  this  eagerness  to  learn,  and  some  are 
easily  satisfied  when  they  do.  But  a  goodly  proportion  of  the  pupils  have  it 
and  in  most  of  them  it  can  be  aroused.  Once  started,  it  tends  to  grow.  WTiether 
it  does  grow  or  not  depends  on  the  teacher.  Beauties  in  literature  or  art  not 
perceived  by  the  pupil,  or  meanings  unsuspected  by  him;  the  unsolved  myste¬ 
ries  of  science  as  well  as  its  known  wonders  and  established  laws,  and  its  far- 
reaching  applications;  the  fascination  of  mathematical  truth,  reasoning,  and 
investigation  in  elementary  as  well  as  in  advanced  mathematics,  together  with 
the  never-ending  practical  applications  of  mathematics,  in  science  and  in  the 
industrial  and  constructive  arts;  the  constant  bearing  of  history  on  the  devel¬ 
opment  of  right  conceptions  of  American  public  service;  the  processes  and 
products  of  manual  training,  always  interesting  in  themselves  but  capable 
of  an  interpretative  significance  that  insures  economic  enlightenment  and 
interest — to  enable  the  pupil  to  realize  these  and  other  illuminating,  steady¬ 
ing,  and  inspiring  influences  is  the  privilege  and  the  duty  of  the  high-school 
teacher.  And  this  duty  cannot  be  adequately  discharged  by  one  wTo  does 
not  himself  possess  in  full  measure  the  resources  of  the  subject  he  teaches. 

To  make  this  discussion  specific,  let  us  inquire  now^  what  ought  to  be  the 
essential  minimum  of  academic  training  which  a  high-school  teacher  should 
possess. 

That  our  future  high-school  teacher  should  secure  a  good  high-school  and 
college  education  goes  wnthout  saying;  he  must  secure  an  equipment  in 
scholarship  at  least  four  years  in  advance  of  his  most  advanced  pupils.  To 
this  general  proposition,  I  take  it,  ever}^  one  wnll  agree.  But  it  w'ill  be  neces¬ 
sary  to  examine  this  proposition  more  in  detail. 

Every  well-educated  person  should  have,  first  of  all,  a  good  high-school 
education,  such  as  is  represented  in  substance  by  preparation  for  admission 
to  a  good  American  college  (provided  the  college  allows  a  considerable  range 
of  choice  in  the  studies  that  may  be  offered  for  admission).  If  all  the  best 
American  colleges  w^ere  ready,  as  they  should  be,  to  accept  for  admission  any 


566 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


work  well  done,  and  covering  at  least  a  year  of  four  periods  of  prepared 
exercises  per  week,  we  could  say  that  each  pupil’s  work  should  cover 
at  least  one  year’s  work  in  each  of  the  studies  enumerated  below  as 
“prescribed  studies,”  together  with  two  or  three  additional  years  of  work 
in  those  studies  (or  groups  of  studies)  which  he  prefers,  as  will  be  pointed 
out  farther  on.  Since  we  have  not  yet  attained  the  educational  millennium, 
we  should  approximate  the  general  scheme  proposed  in  the  following  para¬ 
graphs  as  closely  as  possible. 

PRESCRIBED  STUDIES 

(The  figures  mean  so  many  class  exercises  per  week.  Double  periods  are  to  be  under¬ 
stood  for  the  sciences,  when  laboratory  work  is  required.) 

PREPARED  CLASS  EXERCISES 


English  .  . . 3 

Foreign  language . 4 

Mathematics: 

(Algebra  and  geometry) . 4 

Physical  geography . 3 

Physics . 3 

American  history . 3 

Economic  history  or  economics . 3 

Government  (civics) . 3  26 


UNPREPARED  CLASS  EXERCISES 

Manual  training  and  drawing . 3 

Drawing  and  the  history  of  art . 2 

Music . 2 

Physical  training . 8  (2  each  year.) 

IS  41 

From  the  offering  of  a  good  high  school  the  pupil  should  be  required  to 
choose,  in  addition  to  his  prescribed  studies,  thirty-four  periods  of  prepared 
exercises,  if  he  desires  the  diploma  of  the  school.  These  thirty-four  additional 
periods  should  be  so  chosen  that  they  are  devoted  chiefly  to  deepening  and 
extending  his  knowledge  and  power  in  a  small  number  of  studies  or  groups 
of  related  studies  already  undertaken.  Such  a  scheme  of  work  seems  to  me 
to  guarantee  both  necessary  breadth  and  thoroness,  so  far  as  these  terms  are 
applicable  to  high-school  education.  Now  breadth  and  thoroness  are  the 
essential  characteristics  of  a  future  teacher’s  scholarship.  This  program  is 
accordingly  well  adapted  to  the  needs  of  future  teachers. 

3.  On  this  basis  our  future  teacher  begins  his  college  work.  When  he 
goes  to  college,  he  will  select  his  studies  on  the  same  general  principles  that 
determined  his  choice  of  work  in  the  high  school.  If  he  has  not  had  this 
satisfactory  precollegiate  education,  if  his  precollegiate  training  has  been  too 
narrow,  say,  he  will  naturally  have  to  sacrifice  some  of  the  time  he  would 
otherwise  devote  to  his  specialty  to  such  studies  as  will  give  him  sufficient 
breadth  of  training.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  his  precollegiate  training  has 
been  too  widely  dispersed,  he  will  be  unable  to  make  such  progress  in  his 
specialty  in  college  as  is  here  suggested.  But  neither  of  these  things  should 


Department]  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


567 


happen  in  good  high  schools.  That  they  do  happen  is  an  evidence  of  lack 
of  insight  and  aim  on  the  part  of  the  high-school  teachers. 

For  illustration,  I  select  three  typical  schedules  of  study  from  the  number 
that  might  be  given — one  for  a  teacher  of  English,  one  for  a  teacher  of  classics, 
and  one  for  a  teacher  of  physics.  Each  schedule  represents  the  essential 
minimum  of  academic  training  a  high-school  teacher  of  the  subject  named 
should  possess.  Each  of  these  schedules  fills  the  entire  time  of  an  under¬ 
graduate  working  at  the  rate  of  five  full  courses  (i.  e.,  five  studies  at  a  time) 
each  year — and  no  real  student  ought  to  attempt  more. 

No  provision  is  made  in  these  schedules  for  the  study  by  the  prospective 
teacher  of  his  profession.  As  this  study  is  just  as  fundamental  as  the  teacher’s 
study  of  “academic”  subjects,  it  is  clear  that,  in  my  view,  undergraduate 
study  for  the  teacher  is  not  enough.  The  essential  minimum — about  four 
full  courses — of  professional  study,  without  which  a  young  high-school  teacher 
should  never  be  recognized  as  such,  is  accordingly  assigned  to  a  year  of  grad¬ 
uate  study.  Since,  however,  it  will  be  impossible,  for  some  time  to  come,  to 
insist  on  this  graduate  year  in  practice  for  all  high-school  teachers,  those  who 
find  themselves  obliged  to  restrict  their  training  to  their  undergraduate  careers, 
ought  to  be  required  to  take  this  essential  minimum  of  professional  studies  as 
undergraduates.  Wfiiat  this  essential  minimum  is,  is  given  below.  Such  a 
compromise  between  what  ought  to  be  and  what  can  be  reasonably  demanded 
should,  however,  be  recognized  as  temporary,  and  to  be  outgrown  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment. 

For  a  teacher  of  English — The  student  enters  college  with  three  years  of 
English,  four  of  Latin,  two  of  Greek,  two  of  German,  and  one  year  of  French. 
This  is  a  good  linguistic  preparation  for  the  prospective  teacher  of  English. 
If  he  is  less  well  equipped  with  Latin  and  Greek,  but  has  had  better  training 
in  German  and  French,  he  will  naturally  give  more  time  to  the  classics  and 
less  time  to  modern  languages,  than  is  suggested  below.  But  his  training  in 
classics  (in  the  high  school  and  college  together)  ought  never  to  be  less  than 
four  years  of  Latin  and  two  years  of  Greek.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  enjoy 
English  literature  without  some  knowledge  of  the  classics.  But  if  a  would- 
be  teacher  of  English  has  had  no  classics  at  all  in  his  precollegiate  training 
he  must  at  least  know  Greek  and  Roman  literature  thoroly  in  translation.  Even 
so,  however,  he  will  find  himself  handicapped  at  every  turn  because  he  lacks 
the  elementary  philological  training,  without  which  thoro  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  English  are  impossible.  That  a  teacher  of  English  ought 
to  possess  such  understanding  and  appreciation  goes  without  saying.  Hence, 
the  scheme  recommended  seems  to  me  a  safe  basis  for  general  guidance. 

SCHEDULE  OF  COLLEGE  STUDIES  FOR  A  TEACHER  OF  ENGLISH 

FIRST  YEAR 

English  Rhetoric  and  composition 

English  History  of  English  literature.  Anglo-Saxon  period  to 

the  present  day 


568 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Latin 


Greek 


History 


English 

English 

German 

French 

Science 


English 

English 

German  or  French 
History 

Sociology  or  Economics 


English 

English 

History 

Philosophy  or  Psychology 
Fine  arts 


^Literature.  Horace:  Odes  and  epodes;  Livy,  Terence, 
Andria,  and  Phormio;  or,  Tacitus:  (Annals  I-VI); 
Catullus:  Selections;  and  other  poets;  Horace: 
Satires  and  Epistles 

^Literature.  Homer:  Odyssey,  Phaeacian  episode; 
Euripides  and  Aristophanes:  scenes  from  selected 
plays.  Or,  Plato:  Apology,  Crito; .Lysias:  selected 
orations;  Elegiac,  lambic  and  Lyric  Poets:  selec¬ 
tions;  Euripides:  Iphegenia  among  the  Taurians. 
Lectures  on  the  history  of  Greek  literature. 

English. 

SECOND  YEAR 
Advanced  composition 
Seventeenth-century  literature 
Literature  and  composition 
Literature  and  composition 

Physical  geography  or  geology;  or  a  half  year  of  botany 
and  a  half  year  of  zoology 

THIRD  YEAR 

Debating  and  public  speaking 
Chaucer 

Literature  and  composition 

Mediaeval 

General  principles 

FOURTH  YEAR 

Shakspere 
Nineteenth  Century 
American 

History  of  modern  philosophy  or  psychology 
Mediaeval  and  Renaissance 


For  a  teacher  of  classics — The  student  enters  college  with  four  years  of 
English,  four  of  Latin,  three  of  Greek,  and  at  least  one  year  of  German  and 
one  year  of  French.  It  is  usually  impossible  to  accomplish  this  desirable 
preparation,  together  with  other  work  a  high-school  pupil  ought  to  do,  in  four 
years,  and  it  ought  not  to  be  attempted.  It  can  be  done  in  five  years,  how¬ 
ever. 


SCHEDULE  OF  COLLEGE  STUDIES  FOR  A  TEACHER  OF  CLASSICS 


English 

Latin 

Modern  Language 

History 

Science 


English 

Latin 


FIRST  YEAR 

Rhetoric  and  composition 
Livy,  Horace,  Terence 
Literature  and  composition 
Ancient  or  mediaeval 

Physical  geography,  or  geology;  or  botany  and  zoology 
SECOND  YEAR 

History  of  English  literature 
Virgil,  sources  and  literary  influence 


'  The  alternatives  are  to  be  chosen  in  accordance  with  the  pupil’s  preparation. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


569 


Greek 

Modern  Language 
History 


Plato,  Xenophon,  Lysias,  Euripides 
Literature  and  composition 

Modern  European  or  English;  or  life  of  the  ancient 
Romans 


■  English 
English 
Latin 
Greek 

History  or  Government 


THIRD  YEAR 

Study  of  a  period  of  English  literature;  or 
Shakspere 

Tacitus,  Catullus,  Horace 

Demosthenes,  Aeschines,  Aeschylus,  Sophocles,  the  life 
of  the  ancient  Athenians 
American 


FOURTH  YEAR 


Nineteenth-century  literature 
Composition,  one-half  year 
Composition,  one-haH  year 
The  life  of  the  ancient  Greeks 
Mediaeval  and  Renaissance 

History  of  modern  philosophy,  or  elementary  psychology 

The  emphasis  on  Latin  in  this  course  is  slightly  greater  than  on  Greek,  because 
relatively  few  teachers  of  classics  in  schools  are  called  upon  to  know  Greek  as  well  as 
they  know  Latin.  But  the  principle  is  recognized  that  a  teacher  of  either  of  the  ancient 
classics  must  have  well  studied  the  other. 


English 
Latin 
Greek 
Greek 
Fine  Arts 

Philosophy  or  Psychology 


For  a  teacher  of  physics — The  student  has  offered  among  his  admission 
subjects  advanced  algebra,  solid  geometry  and  trigonometry,  elementary 
physics,  and  at  least  two  years  of  one  modern  language,  either  German  or 
French. 


SCHEDULE  OF  COLLEGE  STUDIES  FOR  A  TEACHER  OF  PHYSICS 


English 

German  or  French 
Mathematics 
Physics 
Chemistry 


FIRST  YEAR 

Rhetoric  and  composition 
Literature  and  composition 
Plane  and  solid  analytics 

Experimental  physics,  or  general  descriptive  physics 
Physical  chemistry 


SECOND  YEAR 


English 

French  or  German 

Mathematics 

Physics 

Physics 

Physical  Geography  or  Geology 
Drawing 


History  of  English  literature 
Literature  and  composition 
Calculus 

Advanced  course  in  experimental  mechanics  (one-half 
year) 

Light;  Laboratory  course  (one-half  year) 

Projections  and  machine  drawing 


THIRD  YEAR 

History  Modern  European,  or  English 

Physics  Laboratory  course  in  electricity  and  magnetism.  Meas¬ 

urements 

Heat  (one-half  year) 


Physics 


570 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Construction  and  repair  of  physical  apparatus  (one-half 
year) 

Descriptive  and  practical  astronomy 
General  principles 

FOURTH  YEAR 
American 

Generation,  transmission,  and  utilization  of  electrical 
energy 

Thesis  on  a  special  problem 
History  of 

History  of  modern  philosophy  or  psychology 

ROFESSIONAL  STUDIES 

4.  So  much  for  our  student’s  general  and  special  scholarship.  The  very 
fact  that  he  is  to  be  a  teacher  implies  that  he  must  be  something  more  than  a 
scholar,  important  as  scholarship  is.  Scholarship  is  for  him  not  only  an  end 
in  itself,  but  a  means  to  an  end — that  end  being  the  use  to  be  made  of  it  in 
the  interest  of  his  pupil.  This  interest  includes  the  exceedingly  important 
discovery  of  the  pupil’s  dominant  tastes  and  capacities  and^the  progressive 
shaping  of  his  education  in  accordance  with  that  discovery. 

This  conception  of  the  teacher’s  scholarship  as  an  instrument  in  his  hands 
for  the  good  of  his  pupil  is  the  teacher’s  conception,  not  the  scholar’s  To 
endeavor  to  attain  it  is  the  duty  of  every  teacher.  Ultimately  it  will  determine 
'his  permanent  attitude  toward  his  work  as  a  teacher — not  merely  to  this  or 
that  part  of  it,  but  all  of  it. 

Now  this  professional  attitude  is  very  rarely  the  outgrowth  of  scholarship 
alone;  indeed,  scholarship  may  even  prevent  its  development.  Very  few 
young  graduates  have  even  an  inkling  of  it;  and  most  young  doctors  have 
been  prevented  from  acquiring  it  by  highly  specialized*  “research ”  in  the 
field  of  pure  scholarship.  While  these  men  are  studying  for  their  degrees, 
scholarship  is  only  an  end  in  itself.  Incidentally,  if  they  are  preparing  to 
teach,  they  know,  of  course,  that  scholarship  is  an  indispensable  part  of  their 
professional  equipment.  But  this  knowledge  alone  is  quite  as  apt  to  promote 
a  wrong  attitude  toward  their  work  as  a  right  one.  It  often  leads  a  young 
scholar  to  regard  the  work  of  teaching  as  a  necessary  evil,  to  be  borne  only 
because  it  may  enable  him  to  pursue  further  the  research  which  he  loves. 
When  this  does  not  happen,  when  he  really  applies  himself  with  some  zeal 
to  his  work  as  a  teacher,  it  often  leads  to  an  exaggerated  or  at  least  dispropor¬ 
tionate  estimate  of  the  educational  value  of  his  specialty,  and  to  corresponding 
indifference  to  the  educational  value  of  other  studies.  And  the  greater  the 
degree  of  specialization,  the  greater  the  danger  is.  This  is  one  reason,  I 
suppose,  why  the  doctor  of  philosophy  who  wishes  to  teach  in  a  high  school  is 
sometimes  justly  regarded  with  suspicion  by  principals  and  superintendents. 
And  it  is  doubtless  also  one  reason  why  the  German  states  require  would-be 
secondary-school  teachers  to  pass  examinations  in  three  fields  of  study — one 


Shop  Work 
Astronomy 

Sociology  or  Economics 

History  or  Government 
Physics 

Physics 
Fine  Arts 
Philosophy 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


571 


“major”  and  two  “minors;”  and  also  why  relatively  few  German  secondary- 
school  teachers  have  secured  the  doctor’s  degree. 

a)  My  point  is,  once  more,  that  the  teacher  is  not  merely  a  scholar,  impor¬ 
tant  as  scholarship  is.  To  be  available  for  teaching  purposes,  scholarship 
must  have  been  acquired  or  at  least  overhauled  from  the  teacher’s  point  of 
view.  The  scholar  must  possess  his  scholarship  in  a  new  way.  He  must 
examine  it  with  a  view  to  attaining  a  clear  conception  of  the  educational 
resources  of  his  specialty  and  an  equally  clear  recognition  of  its  limitations. 
He  must,  for  example,  have  a  definite  answer  to  these  two  questions:  (i) 
what  ought  the  pupil  to  get  from  this  subject  under  my  guidance;  and  also 
(2)  what  can  he  by  no  possibility  derive  from  it  ?  The  teacher  of  history, 
for  example,  may  expect  his  pupil  to  derive  from  history  social  insight  and 
interest,  and  some  political  enlightenment.  But  it  is  clear  that  social  insight 
and  interest,  and  political  enlightenment  do  not  constitute  more  than  one 
element  of  the  complex  whole  we  mean  when  we  speak  of  a  good  citizen; 
to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that,  at  a  given  time,  even  social  insight  and  political 
enlightenment  cannot  be  secured  thru  history  at  all,  owing  to  the  pupil’s 
immaturity,  or  unawakened  social  and  political  comprehension.  Hence, 
the  teachers  of  mathematics,  science,  languages,  the  mechanic  arts,  and  the 
rest,  have  important  subjects  to  teach  as  well  as  the  teacher  of  history ;  and  at 
a  given  time  any  one  or  several  of  them  may  be  able  to  secure  for  the  pupil  a 
more  adequate  revelation  of  the  world  and  a  clearer  self-discovery  of  the  pupil 
than  the  teacher  of  history  can  secure.  That  is  to  say,  the  history  teacher’s 
business  is  to  see  that  the  world  is  revealed  to  the  pupil  from  the  historical 
point  of  view,  while  recognizing  the  worth  and  efficiency  of  other  studies  to 
the  final  end  at  which  all  are  aiming — the  pupil’s  knowledge  of  the  world  and 
of  himself,  and  a  command  over  both  appropriate  to  his  age  and  opportunities. 
The  history  teacher  will  thus  realize  that  this  historical  revelation  of  the  world, 
important  as  it  may  be  in  itself,  is  not  the  whole  revelation.  Just  what  this 
historical  revelation  is  in  its  breadth  and  depth,  it  is  the  history  teacher’s 
professional  duty  to  know;  for  this  knowledge  will  determine  nothing  more  or 
less  than  his  conscious  aims  as  a  teacher — will  determine  the  richness  or  poverty 
of  his  teaching,  and  the  significance  or  want  of  significance  of  the  subject  for 
his  pupil. 

It  thus  appears  that  conscious  aims,  clearly  and  discriminatingly  defined, 
constitute  an  important  part  of  the  teacher’s  professional  equipment,  and  that 
scholarship  alone  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  supply  them,  although  it  is  impos¬ 
sible  to  realize  them  without  scholarship.  How  are  they  developed  ?  This 
question  will  be  answered  presently.  But  first  something  more  needs  to  be 
said  about  them. 

By  implication  it  is  already  clear,  from  what  has  gone  before,  that  the 
teacher’s  aims  are  both  general  and  special.  Up  to  this  point,  however,  the 
teacher’s  special  aims — i.  e.,  the  results  he  hopes  to  attain  through  his  specialty — 
have  received  most  attention.  Bn^^  his  responsibilities  do  not  stop  with  a 


572 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


clear  conception  of  what  the  pupil  should  learn  of  a  given  subject  under  his 
guidance.  He  must  know  how  to  teach  his  subject  so  as  to  realize  his  aims. 
He  must  also  understand  his  pupil  as  a  child  and  youth  and  not  merely  as  a 
pupil  of  history,  or  literature,  or  science,  or  manual  training;  he  must  be  able 
to  guard  and  promote  the  physical  as  well  as  the  mental  and  moral  welfare 
of  his  pupil;  and  he  must  be  able  to  estimate  the  significance  and  value  of 
the  work  of  the  school  as  a  whole  in  providing  for  its  pupils  the  most  salutary 
physical  environment,  and  appropriate  participation  in  all  the  worthy  interests 
of  life,  i.  e.,  satisfactory  preparation  for  the  pupil’s  maturity,  for  his  work  and 
for  his  leisure. 

The  teacher  must  therefore  know  how  to  teach  and  manage  children  and 
youth,  must  know  the  nature  of  children  and  youth,  and  the  conditions  of 
their  satisfactory  development;  he  must  know  whether  the  school  in  which 
he  works  is  adapted  to  the  ends  for  which  it  exists — in  a  word,  he  must  have 
professional  insight,  interest,  and  skill  in  his  own  work,  and  he  must  have 
a  professional  horizon  wider  than  his  classroom,  or  his  school. 

h)  The  teacher’s  special  aims  and  his  power  to  realize  them — his  technical 
skill  and  his  general  professional  insight  and  interest,  and  his  professional 
horizon,  he  can  derive  only  from  the  study  of  his  profession.  The  lawyer, 
engineer,  or  physician  has  professional  insight,  interest,  and  skill  which  every¬ 
one  recognizes,  appeals  to  in  case  of  need,  and  respects  as  valid  when  obtained 
because  each  of  them  bases  his  professional  career  on  a  body  of  organized 
facts  and  principles  pertaining  to  his  profession  and  on  an  incipient  command 
over  them,  and  he  perfects  this  knowledge  and  skill  by  practice.  That  is 
to  say,  each  enters  on  his  chosen  calling  with  a  developed  professional  attitude 
i.  e.,  with  a  knowledge  of  his  professional  responsibilities,  and  developed 
confidence  in  his  power  to  discharge  them.  Such  an  attitude  must  be  based 
on  a  prolonged  study  of  the  resources  and  the  problems  of  his  profession,  and 
as  much  practice  as  possible  in  formulating  legal  advice  and  pleading  cases; 
in  making  plans  for  routes,  structures,  or  machines,  and  in  executing  those 
plans;  in  diagnosing  bodily  conditions,  and  prescribing  treatment. 

Now  the  teacher’s  educational  aims,  insight,  interest,  and  skill  and  his 
professional  horizon — the  range  of  his  professional  efficiency — determine  his 
professional  consciousness,  just  as  the  corresponding  equipment  of  the  workers 
in  other  professions  determines  theirs.  Such  a  professional  consciousness 
is  the  professional  attitude.  It  is  the  outgrowth  of  consciously  possessed  and 
tried  resources.  It  makes  the  worker  painstaking;  prompt  without  precipi¬ 
tation;  aware  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  his  path,  but  courageous  in  meeting 
them;  willing  to  experiment  but  not  without  adequate  cause;  judiciously 
aggressive  in  proposing  new  policies,  and  able  to  defend  them  convincingly 
in  the  face  of  all  kinds  of  opposition. 

Such  is  the  desirable  attitude  that  we  have  a  right  to  expect  every  teacher 
to  attain.  That  too  many  teachers  now  in  service  have  it  not  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  not  taken  pains  to  acquire  it,  they  have  not  seriously  studied 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


573 


their  profession.  Until  they  do,  it  is  impossible  to  expect  that  their  employers 
or  the  general  public  will  acknowledge  their  superiority  over  the  lay  public  in 
matters  educational;  for,  in  general,  no  such  superiority  will  exist. 

Of  what,  then,  does  the  teacher’s  study  of  his  profession  consist?  First 
of  all,  as  has  been  said,  the  teacher  must  know  how  to  teach — he  must  command 
the  technique  of  his  art;  he  must  know  how  to  teach  his  subject  and  manage 
his  class.  At  this  point  I  may  be  pardoned  a  brief  digression. 

c)  It  is  still  believed  by  otherwise  well-informed  persons  that  any  scholar 
is  ipso  jacto  a  teacher,  or,  at  least,  that  he  can  easily  become  a  teacher — a  good 
one — by  practice  only.  (It  would  be  more  correct  to  say  by  floundering!) 
This  view  is  held,  with  a  conspicuous  disregard  for  the  testimony  of  experience, 
by  many  college  professors,  who  are  often  called  upon  to  recommend  young 
graduates  as  teachers,  and  not  infrequently  by  the  employers  of  teachers — 
particularly  private-school  or  endowed-school  principals  and  trustees.  In 
this  paper  there  is  no  need  to  combat  this  error;  and  I  content  myself  with 
reminding  you,  once  more,  in  passing,  that  in  spite  of  recent  progress,  it  still 
persists — it  still  interferes  with  the  development  of  training  in  teaching  in 
our  colleges  and  universities.  Inasmuch  as  colleges  and  universities  are  the 
source  of  supply  of  the  great  majority  of  our  high-school  and  private-school 
teachers,  the  persistence  of  this  error  must  be  reckoned  with  when  we  seek  to 
secure  proper  training  for  high-school  teachers. 

But  to  return.  Everyone,  whether  superintendent,  principal,  teacher, 
or  layman,  knows  that  bad  teaching  defeats  the  very  ends  for  which  the  schools 
exist  and  is  the  source  of  enormous  waste  of  money,  time,  and  strength.  It 
makes  the  most  attractive  study  dull;  bewilders,  misleads,  and  repels  the 
most  earnest  and  capable  pupil,  and  so,  as  just  intimated,  perverts  the  educa¬ 
tional  opportunity  willingly  and  generously  provided  by  the  public,  or  expen¬ 
sively  maintained  by  private  means. 

These  are  obvious  commonplaces.  But  it  will  be  necessary  to  insist  on  them 
until  our  college-bred  scholars  and  specialists,  and  many  of  those  who  employ 
them  as  teachers,  as  well  as  most  of  those  who  recommend  them  for  employ¬ 
ment,  finally  divest  themselves  of  the  traditional  error  already  referred  to  that 
scholarship  and  particularly  specialized  scholarship,  involves  teaching  power 
as  a  matter  of  course.  As  long  as  this  traditional  error  persists  in  spite  of 
the  evidence  of  experience — for  I  venture  to  say  that  no  single  fact  of  the  high- 
school  teacher’s  equipment  for  his  work  has  been  so  often  established  by 
experience  as  that  scholarship  and  teaching  power  do  not  necessarily  go  together 
— it  will  be  necessary  to  insist  that  teaching  power,  like  scholarship,  must  be 
acquired  with  painstaking  care.  True  there  are  ‘‘born  teachers”  whose  native 
gifts  enable  them  to  teach  well  without  instruction;  but  most  teachers  in  the 
past  have  not  been  bom  teachers,  and  most  of  them  never  will  be.  In  the 
teaching  profession,  as  in  other  callings,  the  genius  is  found  only  occasionally; 
and  even  he  gains  enormously  by  the  careful  study  of  every  detail  of  his  art  or  his 
profession.  It  is  plain  that  the  world’s  teaching  must  be  done  in  the  future 


574 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  not  by  geniuses  chiefly,  or  even  largely,  but  by  per¬ 
sons  of  ordinary  endowments;  and  experience  has  shown  that  all  such  persons 
need  to  make  the  most  of  their  natural  gifts,  whatever  they  are,  by  careful 
training. 

The  young  graduate  without  technical  training  will  naturally  follow  the 
example  of  his  college  teachers,  since  their  teaching  is  fresh  in  his  memory. 
If  those  teachers  happen  to  have  been  good  models,  the  neophyte  of  good 
natural  teaching  power  will,  ere  long,  beat  out  a  fairly  successful  routine, 
although  at  the  expense  of  his  pupils,  and  more  or  less  damage  to  his  subject. 
If  a  young  language  teacher’s  model,  for  example,  has  emphasized  the  philo¬ 
logical  aspect  of  his  subject  rather  more  than  its  literary  content  and  form, 
his  pupil — our  young  teacher — will  be  likely  to  overemphasize  the  same  thing 
in  his  teaching,  in  spite  of  the  well-known  fact  that  literature  and  not  the 
refinements  of  syntax  and  long  excursions  into  comparative  grammar  attracts 
most  high-school  pupils;  if  his  model  has  been  an  inspiring  literary  interpreter 
as  well  as  a  reasonable  grammarian,  our  young  teacher  will  similarly  be  likely 
to  address  himself  by  preference  to  literary  interpretation.  The  fact  is,  how¬ 
ever,  that  without  specific  instruction  in  the  various  educational  resources  of 
his  subject,  the  educational  possibilities  of  that  subject  are  not  consciously 
recognized;  and,  what  is  even  more  important,  the  varying  educational  values 
of  those  resources  are  not  seen  to  differ  from  each  other,  and  to  have  varying 
values  for  different  pupils.  For  example,  I  once  heard  a  secondary-school 
teacher  spend  nearly  the  whole  of  one  class  exercise  on  three  illustrations  of  a 
very  unusual  use  of  the  ablative  case  by  Cicero — one  of  the  three  having 
occurred  in  the  lesson  of  the  day. 

So  the  prospective  teacher  must  be  led  to  overhaul  his  scholarship  from 
the  teacher’s  point  of  view,  in  order  to  become  aware  of  its  educational  possi¬ 
bilities  and  their  relative  importance;  and  then  he  must  secure  a  training 
in  theory  and  practice  that  will  enable  him  to  work  systematically  and  progres¬ 
sively  toward  realizing  these  possibilities  in  his  teaching.  Such  training, 
when 'successful,  develops  the  first  requisite  of  a  professional  attitude,  an 
attitude  which,  as  has  been  said,  is  dependent  on  the  consciousness  of  power 
to  teach  and  incidentally,  to  govern  pupils  and  classes,  an  incipient 
command  over  the  technique  of  the  teacher’s  art.  This  training  naturally 
consists  of  directed  observation  of  good  teachers,  instruction  in  methods, 
and  carefully  supervised  practice  teaching  in  the  classroom,  under  normal 
conditions. 

5.  But,  as  has  been  said,  to  teach  and  govern  well  the  teacher  must  know 
his  pupils  as  well  as  the  art  of  teaching  and  governing.  He  must  know  the 
fundamental  characteristics  of  children  and  young  people,  in  order  that  he 
may  more  appropriately  become  their  guide  and  interpreter,  and  not  merely 
their  judge  and  taskmaster.  And,  of  course,  he  must  acquire  the  habit  of 
studying  every  pupil,  for  his  interpretation  and  guidance  are  effective  only 
when  they  meet  the  needs  of  each  individual.  The  teacher  must,  therefore. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


S75 


learn  as  much  as  possible  about  the  nature  of  children  and  young  people,  and 
he  must  acquire  the  habit  of  studying  each  individual,  and  of  shaping  his 
instruction  and  management  in  real  harmony  with  both  the  general  nature  of 
children  and  youth  and  the  particular  characteristics  of  each  pupil.  That 
is  to  say,  he  must  acquire  the  attitude  of  the  trained  and  sympathetic  student 
of  the  minds  and  hearts  of  all  his  pupils,  and  their  individual  responses  to 
his  influence.  Incidentally  all  his  professional  training  promotes  this  end. 
But  it  is  directly  arrived  at  in  courses  on  educational  theory  (general  principles 
of  education,  school  hygiene,  and  educational  psychology,  particularly  the 
psycholog)^  of  mental  development  in  children  and  adolescents). 

6.  But  the  teacher  must  also  have  a  professional  horizon.  He  must  know 
his  school  as  well  as  his  class.  He  must  see  his  own  work  in  relation  to  that 
of  his  fellow-teachers;  he  must  be  able  to  co-operate  with  them,  for  the  pupil’s 
sake,  on  the  basis  of  a  good  mutual  understanding  of  the  total  aim,  atmosphere, 
classwork,  and  collateral  activities  of  the  entire  institution  as  an  educational 
force;  and  he  and  they  must  be  able  to  work  together  for  the  progressive 
readjustment  of  the  educational  opportunities  the  school  affords,  and  the 
results  it  achieves  to  the  actual  needs  of  the  pupils  and  of  the  community, 
as  they  appear.  That  is  to  say,  he  must  study  the  high  school  as  a  social 
(educational)  institution.  He  must  know^  its  origin  and  its  development. 
From  its  vicissitudes  he  will  learn  much  that  will  enlarge  his  professional 
horizon,  and  make  him  a  more  intelligent  and  constructive  critic  of  its  present 
organization,  its  relation  to  the  elementary  schools  and  to  the  college,  and  its 
actual  contemporary  eflflciency.  Such  training  should  be  given  in  a  course 
providing  for  a  thoro  study  of  the  secondary  school,  particularly  the  public 
high  school. 

7.  But  the  teacher’s  professional  horizon  is  still  too  narrow  if  it  is  limited 
to  the  educational  activities  of  his  owm  school  and  his  own  time.  His  pro¬ 
fession  has  a  remarkable  ■  history,  of  great  intrinsic  interest  and  professional 
significance.  The  history  of  education  is  the  history  of  culture.  It  covers 
the  varying  educational  ideals  of  important  periods  in  the  history  of  progres¬ 
sive  nations,  the  social  (political,  religious,  economic)  conditions  which  gave 
rise  to  these  ideals,  and  the  institutions  devised  to  embody  these  ideals,  up  to 
the  present  day.  These  ideals  are  also  embodied  in  educational  writings,  and 
these  are  accordingly  sources  of  fruitful  thinking  on  educational  theory  and 
practice.  To  study  the  history  of  education  is,  accordingly,  to  pass  in  review 
the  world’s  thought  and  activity  in  the  field  of  education,  and  to  reflect  critic¬ 
ally  on  its  adequacy  as  measured  by  the  standards  adhered  to  in  any  particular 
period.  To  do  this  is  to  acquire  a  professional  horizon  that  extends  far  beyond 
the  confines  of  a  particular  classroom  or  school,  and  inevitably  promotes  the 
habit  of  applying  thoughtful  consideration  to  all  educational  problems  or 
activities — and  this  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  professional  attitude  which  we  are 
seeking  every  proper  means  to  secure  for  every  teacher.  A  good  course  in 
the  history  of  education  is,  accordingly,  indispensable  to  the  essential 


576 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


minimum  of  professional  studies  every  secondary-school  teacher  should 
pursue. 

8.  From  the  foregoing  it  is  clear  that  this  essential  minimum  should  consist 
of  the  following  four  courses: 

1.  General  Principles  of  Education,  one-half  year. 

School  Hygiene,  one-half  year. 

2.  Educational  Psychology,  one-half  year. 

Methods,  and  Practice  Teaching,  one-half  year. 

3.  Secondary  Education — Particularly  the  Public  High  School,  its  Origin  and 
Development;  Relation  to  the  Elementary  School  and  to  the  College;  Present  Aims, 
Organization,  and  Work.  Foreign  Secondary  Schools. 

4.  History  of  Education  from  the  Time  of  the  Ancient  Greeks  to  the  Present  Day. 

It  is  clear  that  a  teacher’s  training  is  only  well  begun  by  such  a  course  of 
study  as  has  been  outlined  in  the  preceding  pages.  His  growth  must  continue 
with  the  practice  of  his  profession  if  he  would  continue  to  be  efficient  as  a 
teacher,  and  increasingly  useful  as  a  member  of  an  important  profession 
whose  interests  he  ought  to  be  able  to  promote  by  his  example,  his  voice,  and  his 
pen;  and  if  he  would  be  counted  among  those  who  not  only  render  efl&cient 
vocational  service,  but  can  be  relied  on  to  co-operate  with  others  in  at  least  one 
of  the  many  community  interests  lying  entirely  outside  his  vocation. 

Thru  the  teacher’s  ministration  the  pupil  is  to  be  led  to  understand  and 
enjoy  this  wonderful  world  of  ours — to  possess  some  command  over  its  resources, 
to  find  in  it  the  particular  thing  of  worth  that  he  likes  best,  and  to  look  forward 
to  the  kind  of  work  that  he  can  do  best.  The  pupil  is  to  acquire  knowledge 
and  the  power  to  use  it;  his  heart  is  to  be  touched  and  taught  to  respond 
habitually  to  noble  emotions  of  “virtue,  honor,  love,  courage,  and  mag¬ 
nanimity;”  he  is  to  see  and  love  beauty  as  well  as  noble  emotions  and  goodness; 
he  is  to  be  trained  to  act  in  harmony  with  his  insight,  his  warm  heart,  and  his 
cultivated  taste;  and  so  to  be  and  do  his  best  in  everything  he  undertakes. 
This  is  the  teacher’s  ideal.  All  would  like  to  approximate  its  realization,  and 
few  indeed  would  not  try  to  realize  it  as  nearly  as  possible,  once  it  is  seen. 
There  are  many  teachers  fortunately  who  cherish  such  an  ideal,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  and  who  adhere  to  it  and  maintain  an  attitude  of  discriminat¬ 
ing  optimism  amid  all  the  trials,  misunderstandings,  discouragements,  and 
disappointments  that  fall  to  the  lot  of  every  worker.  Such  teachers  rejoice 
in  their  partial  successes  and  derive  from  them  the  courage  and  good  will 
that  make  for  ever  increasing  efficiency.  These  are  the  chosen  few — chosen 
by  nature  and  a  fortunate  combination  of  circumstances  to  do  the  teacher’s 
work. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  conditions  under  which  too  many  teachers 
carry  on  their  work  are  a  constant  menace  to  the  maintenance  of  the  teacher’s 
ideal,  and  not  a  few  who  have  it  at  the  start  harden  under  them.  Under  the 
stress  and  strain  of  a  deadening  routine  for  small  pay,  or  an  unappreciative 
public,  or  narrow  or  ill-bred  official  supervisors,  or  some  or  all  these  combined, 
such  teachers  are  in  danger  of  losing  the  inspiring  influence  of  their  ideal,  and 


Department]  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


577 


of  forgetting  it  entirely.  In  any  case,  every  teacher’s  inspiration  is  derivable 
from  two  sources — his  equipment  of  scholarship  and  his  professional  insight, 
interest,  and  skill;  and  we  cannot  urge  too  strongly  or  too  persistently  the 
appropriate  recognition  of  the  training  on  which  this  inspiration  depends  until 
it  ultimately  wins,  wherever  found,  thoro  appreciation  and  appropriate  material 
rewards. 


VII 

E.  O.  HOLLAND,  JUNIOR  PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION  AND  HIGH-SCHOOL  VISITOR, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  INDIANA 

I.  The  last  few  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  will  be  noted  as  the  time 
for  a  new  and  widespread  interest  in  secondary  education.  In  the  past,  educa¬ 
tors  have  given  their  attention  to  the  problems  of  the  common  graded  schools 
and  the  college  and  the  university.  As  a  consequence,  the  elementary  and 
the  collegiate  work  have  been  well  developed  and  been  placed  in  the  hands  of 
specialists.  It  was  not  until  about  fifteen  years  ago  that  the  secondary-school 
problem  was  able  to  demand  the  serious  thought  of  the  educational  leaders. 
In  the  year  1890  was  held  the  December  Conference  at  Berlin.  Four  years 
later  the  Committee  of  Ten  made  its  extremely  valuable  report.  Within 
another  year,  the  English  Parliamentary  Commission  on  Secondary  Education 
concluded  its  investigations.  In  1899,  the  Committee  on  College  Entrance 
Requirements  gave  the  results  of  its  work.  During  these  years,  every  state 
teachers’  association  has  found  the  secondary-school  problem  one  worthy  of 
its  serious  and  persistent  consideration.  As  the  late  President  Harper  well 
said,  “Wedged  in  between  the  great  common-school  work  and  the  higher  work 
of  colleges  and  universities,  its  prominence  in  the  past  has  not  been  com¬ 
mensurate  with  its  importance.”  But  this  condition  has  been  modified,  and  as 
a  result,  of  all  the  educational  advances  made  during  the  early  part  of  this 
century,  none  will  surpass  that  in  secondary  education. 

The  growth  of  the  high  schools  during  the  past  fifteen  years  has  been 
phenomenal,  for  the  enrolment  has  been  nearly  trebled.  In  1889-90  the 
secondary  schools  enrolled  297,894,  and  in  1903-04,  822,000.  This  increase 
has  been  most  marked  in  the  Middle  West  in  connection  with  the  public  high 
schools,  and  least  marked  in  the  private  eastern  academies.  Yet  the  increase 
has  been  so  great  thruout  the  entire  country  that  it  must  be  called  a  national 
movement.  From  President  Eliot’s  report  we  find  in  1891  that  128  public 
high-school  students  entered  Harvard;  in  1900  there  were  212,  showing  an 
increase  of  more  than  65  per  cent.  In  1891,  147  students  entered  Harvard 
College  from  private  schools;  in  1900,  there  were  105,  showing  a  decrease  of 
over  28  per  cent.  Many  of  the  great  western  colleges  and  universities  have 
been  enrolling  thousands  of  young  men  and  women,  practically  all  of  whom 
have  been  prepared  in  the  public  high  schools.  The  growth  in  the  high 
schools  has  made  possible  the  rapid  growth  in  institutions  of  higher  learning. 
Yet  notwithstanding  this  vast  army  of  young  people  that  pass  each  year  into 


578 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


the  doors  of  our  colleges  and  universities,  the  great  majority  of  secondary- 
school  students  never  enter  an  institution  of  higher  learning.  Since  this  is 
true,  it  means  that  the  secondary  school  has  a  peculiar  function,  and  in  the 
language  of  Dean  Russell,  that  function  “is  the  selection  and  training  of 
leaders  for  intelligent  service  in  academic,  professional,  and  industrial  life.” 
The  high  school  of  the  twentieth  century  is  not  to  be  considered  a  preparatory 
school;  it  has  its  own  specific  work  to  do.  It  should  reinforce  the  true  demo¬ 
cratic  spirit  in  our  government;  it  should  arouse  in  each  pupil  both  an  intel¬ 
lectual  and  an  intelligent  interest  in  life;  it  should  develop  him  along  the  lines 
of  strength  so  he  can  render  to  society  the  greatest  possible  service.  Dr. 
Hanus  has  said, 

Most  of  our  editors,  politicians,  skilled  mechanics,  and  labor  leaders,  our  leading 
business  men,  and  even  the  great  majority  of  our  professional  men  and  women,  are  not 
college  bred;  but  they  have  usually  had  a  secondary-school  training.  These  people  are 
commonly  the  leaders  of  the  people. 

Since,  then,  the  American  high  schools  have  a  distinct  function,  and  since 
they  have  such  an  intimate  connection  with  the  social,  intellectual,  and  indus¬ 
trial  life  of  the  whole  people,  we  should  assume  that  the  question  of  profes¬ 
sional  training  for  secondary  teachers  should  be  one  that  has  received  the  most 
careful  consideration.  It  is  true  that  in  recent  years  our  educational  leaders 
have  thought  and  written  a  great  deal  upon  this  subject,  but  today  we  find  that 
the  vast  majority  of  school  committees  are  indifferent  to  this  important  problem, 
and  that  the  secondary-school  field  is  very  largely  in  the  control  of  inex¬ 
perienced,  unskilled,  and  incompetent  teachers.  The  facts  collected  a  few 
years  ago  by  Superintendent  Crum,  of  Madison,  Neb.,  throw  light  upon  this 
assertion.  Beginning  with  September,  1896,  there  were  at  work  in  the 
Nebraska  high  schools  454  teachers,  in  1905  only  74  remained.  Here  are 
the  statistics  by  years: 

September,  1897,  ^9°  teachers  entered  the  work;  1905,  27  remained. 

September,  1898,  192  new  teachers;  1905,  25  remained. 

September,  1899,  ^^9  teachers;  1905,  34  remained. 

September,  1900,  178  new  teachers;  1905,  29  remained. 

September,  1901,  162  new  teachers;  1905,  42  remained. 

September,  1902,  188  new  teachers;  1905,  62  remained. 

September,  1903,  188  new  teachers;  1905,  90  remained 

September,  1904,  198  new  teachers,  making  583  in  those  positions. 

Superintendent  Crum  discovered  that  over  33  per  cent,  of  the  total  enter 
these  important  positions  every  year,  and  that  over  67  per  cent,  of  these 
teachers  have  been  at  work  for  less  than  four  years. 

These  statistics  are  indeed  startling,  but,  in  a  large  measure,  they  are  no 
more  so  than  those  to  be  obtained  from  any  other  state  in  the  Middle  West. 
These  facts  would  seem  to  prove  my  assertion  that  most  of  the  secondary- 
school  teachers  are  inexperienced,  but  is  it  true  that  they  are,  as  I  have  charged, 
unskilled  and  incompetent?  In  1901,  Professor  M.  V.  O’Shea  received 
reports  from  one  hundred  high-school  principals  and  school  superintendents 


Department]  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


579 


concerning  secondary-school  teachers,  and,  to  reinforce  this  evidence,  he 
carefully  examined  the  records  of  one  thousand  inspections  of  secondary- 
school  teachers.  Here  is  what  he  discovered : 

1,  The  university  giaduata  has  no  just  conception  of  what  a  high  school  ought  to 
accomplish. 

2.  He  has  little  sympathy  at  the  beginning  with  the  kind  of  work  the  high  school  must 
do. 

3-  He  has  little  appreciation  of  what  should  be  the  right  relation  of  his  department  to 
the  other  departments  in  the  high  school.  He  tries  to  monopolize  all  the  time,  and  to 
crowd  out  other  subjects,  for  he  has  not  given  thought  to  the  relative  value  of  the  high-school 
branches.  His  last  two  years  at  the  university  led  him  to  think  that  his  specialty  is  the 
only  subject  to  be  taught  in  the  secondary  schools  and  beyond. 

4.  He  gives  special  and  technical  work  before  the  pupils  have  any  idea  as  to  the  scope 
of  the  subject. 

5.  His  tendency  is  to  talk  too  much,  to  lecture  to  the  pupils,  and  lecture  he  does  regard¬ 
less  of  the  impracticability  of  the  plan. 

Spiritless  teaching  is  the  greatest  fault  to  be  found  in  the  majority  of  these 
cases.  The  second  fundamental  fault  is  the  narrowness  of  view.  Pupils 
cannot  see  the  bearing  of  the  questions.  The  teacher  fails  to  arouse  delight 
and  enthusiasm.  Of  course  that  kind  of  teacher  is  certain  to  have  difficulty 
in  discipline.  Because  of  his  inefficiency  many  pupils  fall  behind  in  the  work 
and  quit  school  forever.  Such  instruction,  of  course,  is  a  costly  business  for 
the  people.  It  decreases  the  efficiency  of  every  high-school  student,  and,  in 
many  instances,  it  perceptibly  lowers  the  moral  and  intellectual  life  of  a 
community. 

I  think  I  have  not  made  the  case  worse  than  it  is.  How  are  we  to  improve 
this  condition  ?  How  are  we  to  make  the  secondary  schools  equal  to  the 
important  task  they  have  to  do  ?  Of  course  the  answer  is  that  we  must  get  the 
people  to  demand  that  the  secondary-school  teacher  make  a  preparation  that 
will  equip  him  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  school.  And  we  must  get  the  people 
to  be  willing  to  pay  for  such  service;  for  the  high-school  teacher  should  have 
the  opportunity  to  do  good  work,  to  receive  a  reasonable  salary,  obtain  advance¬ 
ment  as  a  reward  for  excellent  service,  to  be  given  social  recognition,  and  to 
be  secure  from  unfair  attacks  from  the  public.  In  a  large  measure  the  possi¬ 
bilities  in  the  secondary-school  field  should  be  comparable  with  those  to  be 
found  in  the  other  professions.  When  this  condition  obtains,  the  best  high- 
school  teachers  will  remain  in  the  profession  and  the  poor  ones  will  drop  out 
because  of  the  stronger  competition.  Then  the  high  schools  of  the  country 
will  be  able  to  wield  a  powerful  influence  on  the  life  of  the  people.  Improve¬ 
ment  in  the  secondary-school  work  will  come  first  of  all  from  the  efforts  of  the 
colleges  and  universities,  and  from  the  public-school  leaders  of  the  country. 

During  the  fall  of  1906,  I  sent  out  a  questionnaire  upon  the  general  problem 
of  professional  training  of  secondary-school  teachers,  and  with  a  query  con¬ 
cerning  the  local  condition  and  how  this  condition  could  be  improved.  I 
compared  the  forty  replies  received  from  the  leading  college  and  university 


58o 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


educators  with  those  statements  made  by  the  same  number  of  the  leading 
college  and  secondary-school  men  of  Indiana.  I  was  especially  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  the  needs  seem  to  be  the  same  thruout  the  whole  country. 
From  one  point  of  view  this  is  not  a  misfortune,  for  we  can  approach  the 
general  problem  with  the  approval  and  support  of  all  sections  of  the  United 
States.  Practically  all  of  the  educators  insist  that  the  secondary-school 
teacher  should  possess  four  qualities;  (i)  general  knowledge;  (2)  profes¬ 
sional  knowledge;  (3)  special  knowledge;  and  (4)  real  skill  in  teaching. 

2.  From  the  answers  to  my  questionnaire,  I  infer  much  difficulty  is  found  in 
attempting  to  solve  the  fourth  need  and  requirement — the  development  of  real 
skill  in  teaching.  All  of  us  agree  that  the  preparation  of  the  secondary-school 
teacher  cannot  be  satisfactory  or  complete  until,  in  a  practical  way  and  under 
normal  conditions,  it  includes  actual  experience  in  teaching.  Only  a  few  of 
my  replies  favored  the  establishment  of  a  training-school  in  connection  with  the 
college  or  university  because  of  the  great  expense  and  the  difficulty  in  making 
such  a  school  practical  and  attractive  to  any  large  percentage  of  the  college 
students.  Most  educators  seem  to  favor  an  affiliation  with  a  nearby  high 
school,  where  opportunity  can  be  given  the  students  of  the  department  of 
education  to  observe  skilful  teaching  and  to  take  charge  of  classes  under  the 
direction  and  supervision  of  efficient  teachers.  Another  plan  that  has  been 
favored  widely  is  that  of  sending  out  seniors,  during  the  college  vacations,  to 
do  work  in  some  of  the  best  schools  of  the  state.  Such  a  plan  would  enable 
the  regular  teachers  to  observe  work  in  their  own  and  neighboring  schools — 
an  opportunity  today  they  seldom  have.  Some  such  plan,  I  believe,  will  in 
the  future  be  used  widely  by  many  of  the  best  city  superintendents,  who  can 
thereby  fill  vacancies  with  less  trouble  and  risk;  and  the  pupil-teachers, 
having  such  experience,  will  be  able  to  teach  much  more  satisfactorily 
when  given  a  permanent  place  the  following  year. 

3.  Already  the  departments  of  education  in  most  of  the  institutions  in  the 
Middle  West  require  the  completion  of  a  prescribed  course,  which  includes 
work  in  the  history  and  the  philosophy  of  education,  in  educational  and 
genetic  psychology,  secondary-school  management  and  teaching,  and  in 
observation  and  practice. 

As  Dean  Russell  has  stated: 

The  lowest  requirements  which  can  consistently  make  for  such  a  diploma  or  certificate, 
are  as  follows: 

a)  The  candidate  must  be  a  college  graduate,  at  least  when  he  receives  the  diploma 
if  not  when  entering  upon  the  course,  or  have  the  equivalent  of  a  college  education. 

h)  He  must  satisfactorily  complete  courses:  (i)  In  the  history  of  education;  (2)  in 
the  philosophy  of  education;  (3)  In  school  economy,  especially  school  hygiene — an  allot¬ 
ment,  say,  of  eight  hours  a  week  throughout  one  year. 

c)  As  evidence  of  special  knowledge  in  each  subject  in  which  a  diploma  is  sought, 
the  candidate  should  be  able  to  show  the  equivalent  of  at  least  three  years’  collegiate  study 
of  the  subject.  .  .  .  Such  a  course  may  very  properly  be  conducted  wholly  or  in  part  by  the 
university  department,  which  is  responsible  for  the  academic  training  in  subject  matter. 


Department]  PREPARATION  OF  HIGH -SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


581 


d)  The  cancJdate  must  be  given  opportunity  to  observe  good  teaching,  study  its 
method  under  guidance,  and  finally  give  instruction  under  normal  conditions  long  enough 
to  demonstrate  his  aoility  to  teach. 

‘‘The  lesson  from  German  experience  is  that  to  liberal  culture  you  must 
add  special  scholarship,  and  to  special  scholarship,  professional  knowledge, 
and  to  professional  knowledge,  teaching  skill.” 

Here  is  the  ideal  toward  which  we  are  striving,  tho  we  understand  that 
there  are  many  steps  to  be  taken  before  it  can  be  realized.  In  the  Middle 
West  the  leading  city  superintendents  are  urging  their  teachers  to  go  back  to 
the  college  or  the  university  for  a  year  and  take  courses  in  education.  Where 
the  best  salaries  are  paid,  the  school  authorities  can  demand  and  obtain  well- 
trained  teachers.  Those  school  communities  which  pay  low  salaries  generally 
get  poorly  prepared  or  inexperienced  teachers;  the  teachers  that  become 
efidcient  are  quickly  transferred  to  some  other  place  paying  better  and  offering 
more  opportunities,  and  so  those  communities  are  left  with  teachers  that 
probably  earn  the  pitiful  salaries  paid. 

4.  In  the  Middle  West  the  accrediting  system  used  by  practically  all  the 

colleges  and  universities  has  been  found  to  improve  the  conditions  of  the  better 

and  larger  high  schools.  Most  of  the  universities  have  high-school  inspectors 

(in  Indiana,  the  State  Board  of  Education  acts  in  this  capacity),  and  they 

have  set  a  certain  standard  to  be  met  by  the  secondary  school  holding  a  com- 

/ 

mission.  They  require  that  the  minimum  scholastic  attainment  of  all  teachers 
in  commissioned  high  schools  shall  be  equivalent  to  graduation  from  a  recog¬ 
nized  college,  and  shall  include  special  training  in  the  subjects  they  teach; 
“the  number  of  daily  periods  of  classroom  instruction  should  not  exceed  five, 
each  to  extend  over  at  least  forty  minutes  in  the  clear;”  the  laboratory  and 
library  facilities  must  be  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  instruction;  “all  schools 
whose  records  show  an  abnormal  number  of  pupils  per  teacher,  as  based  on 
the  average  number  belonging,  even  tho  they  may  technically  meet 
all  other  requirements,  are  rejected.”  Thirty  is  considered  the 
maximum. 

Certainly,  these  are  splendid  rules,  but  this  association  of  colleges  and 
universities  “has  omitted  for  the  present  the  consideration  of  all  schools  whose 
teaching  force  consists  of  fewer  than  five  teachers  exclusive  of  the  superin¬ 
tendent.”  Tho  this  last  may  be  a  splendid  rule  to  follow,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  most  important  work  to  be  done  by  inspectors  is  being  neglected.  In 
Indiana,  the  State  Board  of  Education  has  commissioned  240  high  schools, 
which  leaves  527  non-commissioned  high  schools  that  are  not  inspected  by  the 
members  of  the  State  Board.  This  is  the  condition  of  practically  every  state 
in  the  Middle  West,  and  it  means  that  the  schools  that  especially  need  direction 
and  encouragement  are  ignored.  If  money  is  needed  for  inspection,  it  should 
be  furnished,  for  we  cannot  expect  to  raise  the  standard  of  secondary  educa¬ 
tion  thruout  the  country  unless  we  give  practical  aid  and  direction  to  more 
than  one-third  of  the  high  schools. 


582 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


VIII 

C.  H.  JUDD,  PROFESSOR  OF  PSYCHOLOGY,  YALE  U-YIVERSITY 

1.  The  preparation  of  a  high-school  teacher  has  never  included  as  much 
attention  to  special  methods  as  has  the  training  of  elementary-school  teachers. 
Much  greater  emphasis  has  been  laid  in  preparation  for  high-school  work 
upon  a  broad  general  training  and  upon  training  in  the  special  line  in  which 
the  teacher  is  to  give  instruction.  These  practices  of  the  past  are  being  called 
in  question  at  the  present  time  by  many  who  regard  the  work  of  the  high 
school  as  inferior  in  method  to  the  work  in  the  elementary  schools.  Indeed, 
the  criticism  is  very  frequently  made  by  superintendents  and  those  who  have 
charge  of  elementary  work  that  the  poorest  teaching  in  the  schools  is  to  be 
found  in  the  high  schools.  The  criticism  undoubtedly  has  some  justification 
in  actual  experience,  but  in  the  opinion  of  the  present  writer  the  remedy  is  not 
to  be  found  in  the  institution  of  normal  schools  for  high-school  teachers  as  has 
sometimes  been  suggested. 

2.  The  fact  is  that  the  work  of  a  high-school  teacher  is  more  general  in 
character  than  the  work  of  an  elementary  teacher,  and,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  high-school  instruction  is  less  susceptible  to  general  definition  in  point 
of  its  method.  The  high-.chool  teacher  is  not  called  upon  to  drill  in  the 
fundamental  forms  of  knowledge,  his  problem  is  rather  to  open  up  before  the 
developing  mind  great  bodies  of  information  and  new  forms  of  thought.  The 
individual  with  whom  the  high-school  teacher  has  to  deal  is  very  much  more 
of  a  distinct  personality  than  is  the  child  in  the  elementary  school.  Indeed, 
the  characteristic  fact  about  the  high-school  pupil  is  that  he  is  reaching  a  stage 
in  life  in  which  he  is  differentiated  by  his  development  from  those  who  are 
about  him;  he  becomes  clearly  conscious  for  the  first  time  of  his  own  personal 
interests  and  his  own  personal  place  in  the  world.  To  deal  with  a  class  of 
high-school  students  in  anything  like  an  adequate  way  requires  that  the 
teacher  shall  have  the  keenest  sense  for  the  individual  characteristics  of  the 
members  of  his  class. 

3.  There  is  one  statement  from  which  there  is  not  likely  to  be  any  dissent. 
A  teacher  in  a  high  school  should  have  a  broad  general  education  which  car¬ 
ries  him  far  beyond  anything  that  he  will  be  called  upon  to  teach  to  his  students. 
Put  in  the  concrete  this  statement  means  that  graduation  from  a  college  is  the 
minimum  requirement  which  can  be  tolerated  in  the  case  of  a  high-school 
teacher.  If  the  candidate  is  not  a  graduate  of  a  college  he  should  be  able  to 
give  evidence  of  at  least  the  equivalent  of  a  college  course  in  independent  study. 
It  is  not  so  much  the  formal  compliance  with  the  academical  requirement  as 
it  is  the  study  w^hich  is  implied  by  an  academical  degree  that  should  be  con¬ 
sidered.  No  young  man  or  woman  should  present  himself  as  a  candidate 
for  a  position  in  high-school  mathematics,  for  example,  who  has  not  mastered 
the  higher  branches  of  this  subject.  Nor  should  he  present  himself  in  science 
unless  he  has  taken  more  than  a  freshman  or  sophomore  course  in  physics 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


5«3 


and  chemistry.  The  high-school  teacher  must  be  qualified  in  the  subject 
which  he  is  to  teach  by  a  specialized  study  of  this  subject  far  enough  to  become 
acquainted  not  only  with  its  elements,  but  also  with  some  of  its  more  ad¬ 
vanced  phases.  If  there  is  to  be  any  limitation  of  training  in  preparation  for 
high-school  positions  it  should  not  be  along  these  lines. 

4.  Not  only  should  the  high-school  teacher  be  acquainted  with  the  subject 
that  he  is  to  teach  but  he  should  also  be  acquainted  with  the  institution  in 
which  he  is  to  teach.  More  than  for  any  other  teacher  is  it  essential  for  the 
teacher  in  the  high  school  that  he  should  understand  the  history  and  present 
position  of  the  high  school.  This  institution  stands  in  the  midst  of  our  educa¬ 
tional  system;  its  influence  upon  the  lower  schools  and  upon  the  schools  which 
are  above  it  give  it  a  central  character  and  importance  which  has  been  felt 
very  powerfully  in  the  historical  development  of  American  education.  One 
needs  only  to  turn  to  the  history  of  our  middle  schools  by  Professor  Brown 
to  recognize  that  the  influence  of  these  schools  has  been  very  large  in  deter¬ 
mining  the  revision  of  the  course  of  study  in  American  colleges,  and  at  the 
same  time  this  influence  has  been  very  marked  upon  the  development  of  the 
public  schools,  especially  thru  the  preparation  which  the  high  school  has 
given  to  many  of  the  teachers  in  the  elementary  schools.  To  be  sure  it  is 
very  desirable  that  all  teachers  have  some  knowledge  of  the  historical  develop¬ 
ment  and  present  condition  of  the  schools,  but  the  elementary  teacher  is  m^ore 
likely  to  be  called  upon  to  follow  a  line  of  teaching  which  has  been  marked 
out  by  the  superintendent,  and  the  college  teacher  may  devote  himself  to  his 
specialty  and  leave  the  problems  of  reorganizing  the  college  curriculum  to  the 
forces  which  are  operating  thru  the  elective  system  and  thru  other  general 
movements  to  determine  the  character  and  scope  of  college  courses.  No 
high-school  teacher,  on  the  other  hand,  can  neglect,  as  he  prepares  his  courses, 
the  intimate  problems  of  organization  which  come  up  in  connection  with  his 
work.  Our  high  schools  would  not  be  bound  to  traditions  if  there  existed 
among  high-school  teachers  a  clear  historical  insight  of  the  origin  and  character 
of  the  traditions  which  have,  in  a  very  large  measure,  determined  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  high-school  courses. 

We  may  assert,  therefore,  that  a  study  of  the  history  of  education  is  essential 
to  preparation  for  high-school  teaching.  There  should  be  some  instruction 
offered  in  our  American  colleges  on  the  historical  and  institutional  relations 
of  the  high  school  if  colleges  are  to  meet  this  second  obvious  requirement  as 
fully  as  they  meet  the  requirement  which  has  been  described  above  in 
discussing  general  training  in  the  teacher’s  specialty. 

There  is  a  very  general  movement  in  American  colleges  looking  toward 
the  satisfaction  of  the  demand  here  expressed  for  a  historical  course.  Almost 
every  institution  is  introducing  a  course  in  the  history  of  education  as  an 
essential  part  of  the  curriculum  for  those  who  are  to  teach.  It  is  highly  desirable 
that  his  work  be  placed  upon  the  same  academical  footing  as  the  well-estab¬ 
lished  courses  in  history  in  our  colleges.  The  history  of  education  has  long 


5^4 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


been  required  of  German  and  French  teachers  in  the  higher  institutions  in 
those  countries.  It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  find  among  the  teachers 
in  the  German  Gymnasium  or  the  French  lycee  anyone  as  ignorant  of  the 
movements  in  the  history  of  education  as  can  be  found  in  every  high-school 
faculty  in  this  country.  The  course  of  history  of  education  should  not  be  a 
formal  course  such  as  is  offered  in  many  institutions.  It  should  not  be  merely 
a  course  dealing  with  the  educational  reformers  who  have  co-operated  pri¬ 
marily  in  the  development  of  elementary  schools.  It  should  be  rather  a  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  whole  development  of  educational  institutions,  including 
especially  the  higher  schools.  Such  a  work  as  Paulsen’s  on  the  higher  schools 
in  Germany  should  be  prepared  for  the  special  use  of  colleges. 

5.  A  third  requirement  which  should  be  made  upon  the  student  who  is 
preparing  to  teach  in  the  high  school  is  that  he  prepare  himself  to  treat  in  a 
thoroly  scientific  way  the  individual  problems  which  confront  him  in  the 
person  of  each  pupil  and  in  each  new  phase  of  the  presentation  of  his  subject. 
Much  could  be  said  in  favor  of  a  modification  of  the  requirements  imposed 
upon  teachers  in  the  elementary  schools,  so  that  they  also  shall  be  trained, 
not  in  special  methods,  but  in  the  general  scientific  method  of  treating  all 
educational  problems.  Yet  if  the  elementary  teacher  adheres  strictly  to  the 
same  elementary  method  of  procedure,  he  will  not  go  so  far  astray  as  will  the 
high-school  teacher  who  attempts  to  deal  in  a  stereotyped  way  with  the  highly 
individualized  pupil  of  the  high  school.  Too  great  emphasis  cannot  be  laid 
upon  the  fact  that  every  high-school  problem  is  a  distinct  problem  requiring  a 
distinct  and  intelligent  mode  of  treatment.  The  teacher  who  has  not  culti¬ 
vated  flexibility  of  sympathy  and  procedure  should  have  no  place  in  a  high- 
school  faculty.  When  a  boy  or  girl  shows  inability  to  grasp  a  problem  from 
one  point  of  view,  there  is  certainly  no  justification  for  a  reiteration  of  the 
method  which  has  failed  and  an  effort  to  make  the  individual  child  conform 
himself  to  this  ordinary  method.  The  teacher  should  be  prepared  to  meet 
the  intellectual  difficulties  of  a  high-school  student  with  a  flexible  method. 
His  problem  is  therefore  essentially  a  scientific  problem.  It  consists  in  investi¬ 
gating  the  case  in  hand  and  meeting  it  exactly  as  a  trained  scientific  engineer 
would  meet  his  problem.  No  general  rule  can  be  laid  down  for  the  building 
of  bridges.  The  suggestion  which  has  been  made  above,  that  the  high-school 
teacher  become  acquainted  with  the  historical  problems  and  historical  develop¬ 
ment  of  his  institution,  will  furnish  much  of  the  material  in  method  that  may 
be  helpful  to  the  individual  teacher,  but  beyond  these  suggestions  which  can 
be  derived  from  a  careful  study  of  institutions  and  their  growth,  there  is  rela¬ 
tively  little  to  be  derived  from  any  mere  restatement  of  high-school  methods. 
What  the  high-school  teacher  ought  to  have  is  that  intangible  something  which 
we  call  the  scientific  spirit.  He  can  secure  that  only  from  the  thoro  mastery 
of  some  experimental  science.  If,  for  example,  by  a  course  in  chemistry  the 
student  has  been  trained  to  take  any  substance  which  comes  into  his  hands 
and  work  out  a  careful  analysis  of  its  constituents  and  the  mode  of  their  combi- 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


585 


nation,  he  has  certainly  acquired  something  which  is  more  significant  than  the 
facts  of  chemical  composition;  he  has  acquired  a  method  of  attacking  the  prob¬ 
lem  which  comes  before  him.  In  the  same  way,  if  his  studies  have  been  along 
biological  rather  than  the  chemical  lines,  if  he  has  learned  how  to  observe  the 
characteristics  of  certain  living  forms  and  how  to  relate  these  characteristics 
to  the  environment  in  which  the  organisms  have  grown  up  and  in  which  they 
live,  he  has  acquired  again  a  method  and  spirit  of  observation  and  study 
which  will  be  of  great  assistance  to  him  in  his  contact  with  pupils. 

The  demand  which  is  expressed  in  this  discussion  of  the  scientific  spirit 
is  so  broad  and  general  in  its  scope  that  the  single  illustrations  should  not  be 
taken  to  cover  the  whole  demand  which  is  being  expressed.  No  student  who 
pursues  a  course  in  chemistry  or  a  course  in  biology  or  a  course  in  any  branch 
of  science  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  facts  which  we  will  derive  from  these 
courses  has  acquired  the  scientific  attitude  which  will  lead  him  to  take  up  every 
problem  which  he  confronts  in  a  scientific  way.  The  best  kind  of  training 
for  the  scientific  spirit  which  is  being  demanded  in  these  statements  is  the  kind 
of  training  which  is  required  in  most  institutions  for  the  advanced  degree  of 
doctor  of  philosophy.  The  essential  requirement  for  this  degree  is  that  the 
candidate  shall  exhibit  ability  to  carry  on  independent  research.  Our  Ameri¬ 
can  institutions  suffer  in  comparison  with  the  Geruian  and  French  institutions 
below  the  university  in  the  fact  that  the  German  and  French  institutions  are 
manned  by  those  who  have  shown  themselves  able  to  do  scientific  work  of  an 
independent  sort  sufficient  to  give  them  the  doctor’s  degree.  It  is  perhaps  too 
early  in  our  American  educational  development  to  demand  that  the  teachers 
in  our  high  schools  be  doctors  of  philosophy  in  every  case,  but  ever}^  institution 
which  is  preparing  teachers  of  high  schools  should  make  a  special  effort  to 
introduce  into  the  course  of  study  some  training  of  the  sort  w^hich  shall  make 
its  graduates  independent  in  dealing  with  educational  difficulties.  Even  if  a 
man  is  going  to  teach  Latin  or  literature  or  history,  one  phase  of  his  problem 
in  the  high  school  will  be  to  deal  with  individual  minds.  These  he  must 
diagnose  on  the  spot;  no  set  formal  method  can  be  given  to  him.  He  must 
be  able  to  cope  with  new  situations  that  arise  in  a  period  in  the  student’s  life 
when  there  is  the  largest  degree  of  variation  and  the  most  capricious  type  of 
development.  The  training  which  a  high-school  teacher  needs  is  closely 
comparable  to  that  needed  by  a  physician.  No  student  of  medicine  is  allowed 
to  feel  that  he  can  learn  formal  methods  of  treating  cases.  He  may  become 
acquainted  with  the  general  forms  of  treatment  that  are  utilized  by  those  who 
are  older  in  experience  than  himself  (this  would  be  comparable  to  the  historical 
and  institutional  training  which  was  advocated  above),  and  then  the  main 
emphasis  in  the  physician’s  education  is  laid  upon  the  scientific  studies  which 
will  render  him  independent  as  far  as  possible  of  any  formal  precepts  and 
make  him  a  student  of  every  case  with  which  he  has  to  deal. 

The  fulfilment  of  this  particular  requirement  does  not  call  for  any  modifi¬ 
cation  in  the  present  course  of  study  provided  in  American  colleges,  but  it  does 


586 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


call  for  a  very  radical  modification  in  the  types  of  training  that  have  been 
looked  for  in  candidates  for  high-school  positions.  One  very  seldom  hears 
any  inquiry  made  of  a  teacher  who  is  to  give  high-school  courses  in  history 
other  than  those  which  relate  to  his  preparation  in  history.  The  same  is  true 
of  literature,  of  modern  languages,  and  even  of  mathematics.  There  has  been 
very  little  recognition  of  any  special  preparation  for  educational  study  of  the 
children. 

a)  The  demand  which  is  here  expressed  has  often  been  recognized  in  a 
somewhat  narrower  form.  Teachers  have  been  urged  to  study  some  scien¬ 
tific  subject  closely  related  to  education,  such  as  the  theory  of  education  or 
psychology.  The  unfortunate  effect  of  short  courses  in  these  subjects  has 
often  been  that  teachers  have  required  the  false  notion  that  they  are  supplied 
thru  these  courses  with  a  scientific  attitude  toward  education.  Psychology 
and  theory  of  education  may  be,  and  often  are,  quite  as  formal  as  other  disci¬ 
plines.  It  is  only  when  these  lines  of  study  prepare  the  teacher  for  independent 
grasp  of  educational  problems  that  they  serve  the  end  for  wTich  they  are  here 
advocated.  It  would  be  very  much  better  for  the  prospective  teacher  to  get 
a  broad  general  scientific  training  by  taking  courses  in  biology  or  physics  and 
then  learn  to  apply  his  scientific  habits  to  education  thru  psychology  or  the 
theory  of  education,  than  that  he  should  get  a  vague  body  of  psychological 
information  and  little  of  its  scientific  spirit. 

The  fact  that  high-school  teachers  are  not  generally  trained  in  the  methods 
of  independent  attack  upon  problems  comes  out  very  clearly  when  one  con¬ 
trasts  American  high-school  teachers  with  teachers  in  the  German  Gymnasium 
or  the  French  lycee.  To  be  sure  the  ordinary  high-school  teacher  is  over¬ 
loaded  with  hours  and  is  distracted  from  original  investigation  by  tempta¬ 
tions  to  enter  administrative  positions,  such  as  the  principalship  of  a  high 
school  or  the  superintendency  of  some  neighboring  school  system,  and  for 
these  external  reasons  scholarly  research  in  American  high  schools  is  relatively 
rare  as  compared  with  German  and  French  schools.  But  when  all  of  these 
external  conditions  have  been  taken  into  account,  the  fundamental  difficulty 
lies  in  the  fact  that  high-school  teachers  are  not  trained  in  the  methods  of 
investigating  even  problems  that  fall  within  their  special  lines  of  investigation. 
It  is  a  little  wonder  in  view  of  these  facts  that  there  should  be  so  much  formal¬ 
ism  and  lack  of  scientific  investigation  in  their  treatment  of  the  practical  school 
problems  which  can  come  to  them. 

h)  It  seems  very  doubtful  whether  this  special  form  of  training  can  be 
adequately  provided  by  departments  of  education  in  colleges.  It  certainly 
could  not  be  provided  by  any  special  institutions  for  the  preparation  of  high- 
school  teachers  analogous  to  the  normal  schools  of  the  training  of  elementary 
teachers.  The  best  work  of  a  department  of  education  in  this  respect  is 
probably  to  interest  students  in  broad  scientific  study  and  to  interest  the 
scientific  departments  in  the  college  in  giving  the  right  sort  of  scientific  atti¬ 
tude  to  those  who  are  preparing  to  teach  in  the  high  schools.  Some  special 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


587 


discussions  from  a  scientific  point  of  view  of  the  problems  of  the  high  school 
might  very  properly  be  the  work  of  a  department  of  education,  but  the  candi¬ 
date  for  a  position  in  the  high  school  should  never  be  allowed  to  present,  in 
full  satisfaction  of  his  science  requirements,  courses  in  the  theory  of  education. 
Such  theory  of  education  is  at  the  present  time  in  too  formative  a  condition 
to  be  a  suitable  basis  for  scientific  training. 

6.  A  brief  summary  of  the  foregoing  argument,  then,  is  as  follows:  First, 
the  most  essential  requirement  for  the  preparation  of  a  high-school  teacher  is 
elaborate  training  in  the  subject  to  be  taught.  This  should  extend  into  the 
higher  branches  of  the  subject  to  be  taught  to  a  sufficient  extent  to  make 
the  student  reasonably  independent  in  his  judgment  of  authorities  upon  that 
subject.  Second,  the  teacher  should  be  acquainted  with  the  institutions  of 
education  in  the  midst  of  which  the  high  school  stands.  He  should  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  development  of  secondary  schools  in  other  countries  and  in 
America.  Third,  he  should  have,  whatever  his  specialty  may  be,  a  training 
in  science  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  him  to  deal  with  the  problems  that  arise 
in  his  contact  with  students.  The  source  of  this  training  should  not  be  sought 
in  those  disciplines  which  deal  most  intimately  with  the  facts  of  education, 
but  in  whatever  scientific  subjects  are  available  as  giving  the  most  complete 
training  in  scientific  method. 


IX 

GEORGE  W.  A.  LUCKEY,  PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION,  UNIVERSITY  OF 

NEBRASKA 

I.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  most  fruitful  period  in  educational  history. 
Within  the  past  thirty  or  thirty-five  years  the  population  of  the  United  States 
has  doubled,  the  school  attendance  trebled,  the  average  length  of  the  school 
term  has  increased  from  one  of  six  to  one  of  seven  months,  and  the  attendance 
in  public  high  schools  risen  from  thirty  thousand  in  1878  to  over  six  hundred 
thousand  in  1903.  Taking  the  last  ten  years  for  which  I  have  been  able  to 
obtain  data — 1893-4  to  1903-4 — the  enrolment  in  secondary  education 
increased  from  four  hundred  eighty  thousand  to  eight  hundred  twenty-two 
thousand,  or  an  average  increase  of  more  than  thirty-four  thousand  per  year. 
During  the  same  period  the  enrolment  of  students  in  colleges  and  universities 
in  the  United  States  changed  from  seventy-eight  thousand  to  one  hundred 
eighteen  thousand.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  this  great  increase  in  higher 
education  has  been  no  less  rapid  during  the  past  few  years.  In  many  schools 
the  attendance  has  doubled  and  even  trebled  within  the  last  ten  years. 

This  evolution  in  education  is  shown  not  alone  by  the  increase  in  attendance. 
Our  conceptions  of  education  are  undergoing  a  remarkable  change.  The 
people  are  beginning  to  realize  that  secondary  education  is  an  essential  part  of 
the  common-school  system,  the  years  of  which  increase  in  importance  as  you 
ascend  the  scale.  Human  life  is  larger  than  it  used  to  be  and  vastly  more 
important.  As  civilization  grows  in  complexity,  education  must  grow  in 


588 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


efficiency.  Owing  to  the  increase  in  education  and  the  complexity  of  present- 
day  problems,  greater  responsibility  is  being  placed  on  the  young.  In  the 
high  schools  of  the  future  are  to  be  planned  and  executed  some  of  the  most 
important  battles  of  civilization.  These  schools  must  be  kept  in  close  touch 
with  the  life  of  the  community.  All  problems  that  vitally  affect  society 
should  find  consideration  here.  To  teach  in  such  an  institution  one  must  know 
and  appreciate  life.  His  education  must  be  dynamic,  not  static.  He  must 
have  keen  insight  and  be  able  to  adjust  himself  to  new  conditions  with  the 
least  possible  friction.  He  must  not  only  be  thoroly  alive  to  the  needs  of 
humanity,  but  he  must  know  how  to  inspire  others  with  its  problems. 

Not  many  years  ago  the  chief  purpose  of  higher  education  was  to  prepare 
for  professional  life.  Only  those  who  desired  to  enter  the  learned  professions 
had  need  of  such  education.  Today  the  problem  has  greatly  changed  and  the 
multiplied  industries  as  well  as  the  learned  professions  are  in  need  of  men  of 
brain  and  brawn.  To  meet  these  changed  conditions  of  society  the  high- 
school  curricula  must  be  modified,  the  attendance  increased,  sex  and  class 
distinctions  and  advantages  eliminated,  and  the  teaching  force  vitalized.  To 
do  this  the  problems  of  education  must  become  a  part  of  every  teacher’s  stock 
in  trade. 

Large  sums  of  money  are  needed  to  carry  forward  the  work  of  education 
and  more  will  be  needed  in  the  future.  But  the  people  recognize  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  giving  and  can  be  relied  upon  so  long  as  they  have  faith  in  their  schools. 
If  the  teacher  is  properly  prepared  for  his  work  and  equal  to  the  emergency, 
he  will  give  sufficient  proof  for  the  faith  reposed  in  him.  He  will  organize  and 
give  purpose  to  the  thought,  shape  the  ideals,  and  better  the  life  of  every  boy 
and  girl  placed  under  his  instruction.  No  one  can  succeed  without  an  ideal 
or  well-conceived  aim,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  good  teaching  to  create  within 
the  students  ideals  of  life  equal  to  their  strength  and  worthy  of  their  best 
endeavor.  The  aimless  teacher  can  be  of  no  service  in  inspiring  others — 
precept  is  nothing,  example  is  everything.  He  must  have  a  high  moral  pur¬ 
pose,  be  thoroly  alive,  progressive,  observant,and  in  sympathetic  touch  with 
the  life  of  the  community.  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  prepare  such  a  teacher,  for 
more  depends  upon  the  how  than  the  what. 

The  importance  of  this  question  can  be  seen  in  another  way.  In  1896  the 
University  of  Nebraska  established  what  is  known  as  the  University  teachers’ 
certificate  granted  only  to  graduates  who  have  met  certain  academic  and 
professional  requirements  preparatory  to  teaching.^  Since  that  time  the 
certificate  has  been  granted  to  four  hundred  fifty-one  graduates.  One  year 
ago,  one  hundred  fourteen  students  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts, 
sixty-seven  of  that  number  received  the  university  teachers’  certificate,  and 
eighty-two  of  the  number  are  now  teaching.  This  year  (1905-6)  there  were 
one  hundred  thirty-eight  students  who  received  the  Bachelor  of  Arts’  degree, 

'  These  requirements  are  explained  somewhat  in  detail  in  my  work  on  The  Professional  Training  of 
Secondary  Teachers  in  the  United  States,  The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York,  pp.  i86  ff. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


589 


sixty-eight  of  whom  received  the  university  teachers’  certificate,  and  eighty- 
eight  of  the  graduates  have  indicated  their  intention  of  entering  the  profession 
of  teaching.  For  a  number  of  years  a  majority  of  the  graduates  of  the  university 
have  engaged  in  teaching  and  what  is  true  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  is  no 
doubt  equally  true  of  other  state  universities  if  not  of  all  higher  institutions. 
It  is  especially  important  that  the  education  of  these  students  who  are  to  exert 
such  a  telling  influence  on  humanity  should  be  planned  with  care.  And  since, 
in  many  instances  at  least,  they  represent  the  majority  of  the  student  body  there 
should  be  established  in  every  such  institution  ample  provision  for  their 
training. 

2.  When  we  come  to  determine  the  particular  training  of  the  high-school 
teacher  there  is  still  some  divergence  of  opinion,  tho  there  is  quite  general 
agreement  that  the  high-school  teacher  should  have  at  least  a  college  educa¬ 
tion.  By  this  is  meant  that  he  should  have  completed  at  least  the  first  sixteen 
years  of  public  education,  as  usually  outlined,  four  years  of  elementary,  four 
years  of  high  school,  and  four  years  of  college.  The  Committee  of  Fifteen 
appointed  by  the  National  Educational  Association  to  consider  among  other 
things  “The  training  of  teachers”  said,  in  its  report  of  1895,  that. 

The  degree  of  scholarship  required  for  secondary  teachers  is  by  common  consent  fixed 
at  a  collegiate  education.  That  no  one — with  rare  exceptions — should  be  employed  to 
teach  in  a  high  school  who  has  not  this  fundamental  preparation. 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  prevailing  view  of  the  National  Educational 
Association  ever  since,  and  it  has  come  to  represent  the  more  often-expressed 
view  of  the  different  state  associations.  Quoting  from  my  work  on  The 
Professional  Training  of  Secondary  Teachers  in  the  United  States,  published 
by  the  Macmillan  Company  in  1902; 

We  have  reached  a  point  in  our  educational  progress — at  least  in  many  states — wherein 
the  minimum  standard  for  the  preparation  of  elementary  teachers  can  be,  and  ought  to  be, 
the  equivalent  of  a  four-years’  high-school  course,  and  at  least  two  years  of  additional 
training  at  some  good  state  normal  school.  The  minimum  requirement  for  secondary 
teachers  should  be,  in  addition  to  the  above  high-school  course,  a  four-years’  college  course, 
supplemented  by  the  professional  requirements  as  outlined  in  the  preceding  chapter; 
the  latter  to  be  insisted  upon  as  earnestly  as  the  normal-school  training  is  in  the  former 
case. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  am  even  more  convinced  that  these  standards  are 
attainable,  practical,  and  desirable. 

3.  Scholarship  alone  is  not  sufficient  no  matter^how  thoro  and  extended 
it  may  have  been.  There  must  be  in  addition  the  teaching  instinct,  and  a 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  educational  processes  and  the  laws  of 
mental  growth.  Teaching  and  learning  are  disparate  processess  and  are 
not  acquired  in  the  same  way.  The  process  of  learning  is  one  of  acquisition 
and  mental  adjustment,  while  the  process  of  teaching  is  one  of  guidance  and 
the  imparting  of  knowledge.  The  prevailing  motive  in  the  one  case  must  be 
the  desire  to  know  or  to  understand,  while  in  the  other  it  must  be  how  to 
impart,  to  assist  others,  to  know  what  is  already  known.  In  the  one  case  the 


590 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


end  in  view  is  the  object  or  the  subject-matter,  in  the  other  the  growing  mind 
of  the  child.  Hence  to  know  education  from  the  learner’s  standpoint  is  not 
to  know  it  from  the  teacher’s  standpoint. 

4.  When  we  come  to  determine  the  nature  and  amount  of  professional 
training  for  the  high-school  teacher  there  is  less  unanimity  of  thought.  There  is 
quite  general  agreement  that  there  should  be  at  least  twelve  hours  in  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  education,  and  I  am  but  voicing  the  prevailing  practice  when  I  quote 
again  from  my  work  on  the  professional  training  of  secondary  teachers  as 
follow’S : 

The  average  amount  of  purely  professional  study  required  of  the  student  for  the 
university-teachers’  certificates  is  usually  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  hours — more  often 
the  latter.  This  may  or  may  not  include  a  course  in  psychology  offered  in  the 
department  of  philosophy  and  a  special-methods  course  offered  by  the  department  in 
which  the  student  has  his  major  (academic)  subject.  The  professional  work  is  more  often 
spread  over  the  last  two  years  of  the  college  course.  By  some  it  is  thought  preferable  to 
have  it  deferred  until  the  last  year  in  college  or  taken  as  graduate  work  and  made  a  matter 
of  concentration  and  intensive  study. 

The  time  will  come  when  this  professional  study  will  be  required  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  Bachelor’s  degree,  but  I  do  not  believe  we  are  ready  for  that  now. 
I  think  it  is  better  to  have  the  professional  training  spread  over  the  last  two 
years  of  the  college  course.  Naturally  the  professional  study  of  the  teacher 
should  follow  rather  than  precede  or  be  taken  with  his  academic  training. 
The  reasons  for  this  have  been  given  elsewhere.^  It  is  difficult  for  the  student 
to  approach  a  subject  both  in  the  attitude  of  the  learner  and  the  attitude  of 
the  teacher  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

5.  The  various  courses  offered  in  departments  of  education  which  come 
under  the  category  of  professional  knowledge  may  be  grouped  under  the  follow¬ 
ing  heads:  historical,  theoretical,  psychological,  practical.  Under  historical 
may  be  included  the  history  of  education,  school  systems,  educational  classics, 
educational  reformers;  under  theoretical  may  be  included  the  theory,  science, 
and  philosophy  of  education;  under  psychological,  genetic,  and  applied 
psychology,  child-study,  and  adolescence;  under  practical,  school  organi¬ 
zation,  management  and  supervision,  observation  and  practice  teaching, 
methods  of  instruction,  and  the  art  of  teaching.  There  is,  of  course,  in  this 
grouping  considerable  overlapping  depending  on  the  teacher  and  the  nature 
of  the  instruction.  The  work  of  the  student  should  be  distributed  over  these 
four  groups  in  order  that  the  profession  of  teaching  may  appeal  to  him  in  its 
true  significance. 

6.  From  a  study  of  the  problem  it  is  evident  that  the  subjects  which  are 
thought  to  be  of  the  most  importance  in  the  professional  training  of  secondary 
teachers  are  as  follows:  history  of  education,  with  a  probable  course  in 
educational  systems — foreign  and  domestic;  educational  psychology,  including 
child-study  and  adolescence;  theory  of  education,  including  the  science  and 

‘  See  The  Professional  Training  of  Secondary  Teachers  in  the  United  States,  published  by  the  Macmillan 
Company,  New  York,  pp.  189  II. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


philosophy  of  education;  school  administration,  including  organization, 
supervision,  and  management,  observation  of  actual  schoolwork  under 
direction  and  criticism,  and  practice  teaching.  The  latter  should  be  obtained 
when  possible  under  conditions  similar  to  those  of  actual  practice  and  is 
essential  in  the  training  of  a  teacher,  tho  less  vital  in  the  training  of  a  secondary 
than  in  the  training  of  an  elementary  teacher.  I  desire  to  call  attention  to 
Part  I  of  the  Fourth  Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Scientific  Study 
of  Education  which  is  devoted  to  “the  education  and  training  of  secondary 
teachers,”  edited  by  Professor  Manfred  J.  Holmes,  secretary  of  the  National 
Society,  Normal,  Illinois.  This  is  a  valuable  monograph  and  should  be  in 
the  hands  of  everyone  interested  in  the  training  of  high-school  teachers.  It 
treats  the  more  important  topics  concerned  in  the  education  of  secondary 
teachers  in  an  able  and  interesting  manner. 

7.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  time  has  come  when  we  should  demand  of  the 
new  high-school  teacher  not  only  a  college  degree  but  also  a  professional 
diploma  which  will  indicate  that  he  has  made  a  serious  study  of  the  important 
problems  upon  which  he  is  about  to  enter.  This  would  in  time  prevent  two- 
thirds  of  the  present  failures  in  high-school  teaching  and  bar  from  high-school 
instructors  much  of  the  “cultured  aimlessness”  that  is  now  in  the  shape  of 
individuals  drifting  thru  OAir  colleges  without  a  purpose  or  a  thought  of  the 
meaning  and  seriousness  of  life.  When  fewer  teachers  enter  the  schoolroom 
without  professional  training  the  normal  schools  and  college  departments  of 
education  will  receive  less  criticism  for  the  failures  they  do  not  cause  and  have 
had  no  opportunity  to  prevent. 

8.  Two  thoughts  should  be  made  specially  prominent  in  the  academic 
requirements  of  the  high-school  teacher.  First,  he  should  have  a  broad 
general  education,  hence  a  Bachelor  of  Arts’  rather  than  a  Bachelor  of  Science’ 
degree,  unless  the  latter  is  made  to  cover  an  equally  broad  culture  foundation. 
Second,  he  should  be  a  specialist  in  the  subjects  he  expects  to  teach,  not  a 
specialist  in  the  narrow  sense  of  having  his  knowledge  confined  to  a  single  sub¬ 
ject,  but  a  specialist  in  the  broader  sense  of  being  strong  in  one  line  while 
familiar  with  and  keenly  appreciative  of  many  others.  In  this  academic 
training  the  University  of  Nebraska  has  long  held  that  the  student  who  is 
to  receive  the  university  teachers’  certificate  must  show  a  much  higher  grade 
of  scholarship  (averaging  above  80  per  cent,  on  a  scale  of  100)  and  keener 
appreciation  than  he  who  is  simply  permitted  to  pass  for  a  degree.  On 
these  points  Dr.  A.  F.  Nightingale,  in  the  monograph  above  referred  to,  says: 

I  would  make  language,  then,  ancient,  modern,  foreign,  native,  the  basic  study  for  all 
who  would  become  successful  teachers.  Upon  these  foundations  laid  deep  and  strong,  I 
would  build  a  superstructure,  scientific  in  character,  mathematical  in  correctness,  historical 
in  breadth;  and  upon  this  building  poetical  in  its  symmetry,  beautiful  in  its  proportions, 
richly  plain  and  plainly  perfect  in  all  its  inner  furnishings,  there  should  rise  some  magnifi¬ 
cent  turret,  original  in  design  and  typical  of  a  special  genius,  which  should  tell  to  all  around 
its  exact  location  and  for  what  it  is  specifically  adapted. 

Given  the  above  training  in  a  suitable  environment  the  student  with  apti- 


592 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


tude  for  teaching  will  make  an  excellent  teacher  and  all  others  should  be 
directed  into  other  channels  where  they  are  more  likely  to  succeed  or  to  do  less 
harm  in  misdirecting  others. 


X 

GEORGE  H.  MARTIN,  SECRETARY  OE  MASSACHUSETTS  STATE  BOARD  OF 

EDUCATION 

I.  The  absence  of  means  for  training  teachers  for  public  high  schools  is 
the  most  glaring  anomaly  in  the  American  system  of  education.  The  reason 
for  it  is  easier  to  find  than  the  remedy.  When  the  movement  to  provide  for 
the  training  of  teachers  began  in  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  there  were 
but  one  or  two  public  high  schools.  Boys  learned  their  Latin  and  Greek  and 
mathematics  preparatory  to  college  in  endowed  academies. 

The  reformers  of  the  time  had  only  the  common  or  district  schools  in  mind 
when  they  established  normal  schools.  The  objective  point  in  all  their  argu¬ 
ments  was  the  improvement  of  the  ‘‘common”  or  “free”  or  “district”  schools. 
The  dedicatory  addresses  at  the  opening  of  the  early  normal  schools  were 
alike  in  declaring  that  an  auspicious  day  had  dawned  for  the  common  schools. 
Thus  they  became  associated  in  the  public  mind  with  elementary  education 
alone.  There  was  a  tacit  assumption  that  special  training  was  needed  only 
for  the  comparatively  illiterate  young  persons  who  aspired  no  higher  than  to 
be  teachers  in  the  common  schools.  Thus  a  stigma  of  educational  plebe- 
anism  attached  to  the  normal  schools  from  the  start,  and  professional  train¬ 
ing  itself  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  means  of  making  up  natural  deficiencies  or 
as  a  short  cut  to  a  low-grade  career.  To  be  sure,  all  the  arguments  used  by 
the  advocates  of  normal  schools  and  all  the  analogies  from  the  other  profes¬ 
sions  which  they  presented  applied  as  well  to  the  teaching  in  academies  and 
colleges;  but  this  seems  to  have  been  wholly  overlooked  so  intent  was  everyone 
upon  reforming  the  common  schools. 

While  the  normal  schools  were  developing  their  work,  the  public  high 
schools  were  taking  the  place  of  the  academies  and  drawing  their  teachers 
from  the  same  sources,  that  is,  from  the  colleges.  The  teachers  in  these  schools 
shared  with  their  college  instructors  their  contempt  for  normal  schools  and, 
what  w^as  far  more  serious,  contempt  for  professional  training.  Not  many  years 
ago  a  professor  in  Yale  College  w^as  asked,  “What  importance  do  the  members 
of  the  Yale  faculty  attach  to  the  science  of  education?”  “None,  whatever!” 
was  his  prompt  reply.  And  at  about  the  same  time  the  foremost  college  presi¬ 
dent  asserted  publicly  that  all  the  principles  of  education  worth  knowing 
could  be  learned  by  any  intelligent  man  in  twenty-four  hours. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  teaching  in  the  secondary  schools 
which  violates  every  axiom  of  sound  pedagogy.  Some  twenty  years  ago  in  a 
report  on  the  high  schools  of  Massachusetts  made  to  the  board  of  education 
by  one  of  its  agents,  the  writer  after  giving  some  amusing  specimens  of  class 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


593 


teaching  said,  “My  observation  leads  me  to  conclude  that  untrained  teachers 
are  much  alike  whether  they  have  been  graduated  from  a  college  or  only  from 
a  district  school.” 

I  think  no  unprejudiced  obsen'er  can  escape  the  conclusion  that  the  falling 
out  from  the  high  schools  during  the  first  two  years  is  due  more  largely  to  the 
preponderance  of  these  young  college  women  than  to  any  other  single  cause. 
In  the  higher  grades  of  the  grammar  schools  from  which  these  students  have 
come  to  the  high  schools,  they  have  been  under  the  influence  of  strong  men 
and  women  most  of  whom  have  learned  the  science  of  teaching  either  in 
normal  schools  or  in  the  school  of  experience  or  more  often  in  both.  Going 
from  skilled  to  unskilled  teachers,  the  students  fail  to  adjust  themselves  to  the 
new  environment  and  then  comes  mutual  misunderstanding.  The  friction  is 
attributed  to  every  cause  but  the  right  one — to  weak  and  coddling  methods 
in  the  grammar  schools,  to  superficial  teaching,  to  defects  in  the  higli-school 
course  of  study,  to  social  interests,  to  the  craving  to  be  out  in  the  world.  Were 
these  causes  real,  their  existence  would  only  emphasize  the  need  of  better 
teaching  in  the  early  high-school  years. 

2.  Turning  to  inquire  what  these  young  collegians  need  to  fit  them  to 
teach,  no  one  who  has  seen  any  considerable  number  of  them  at  work  but 
knows  that  what  they  need  most  and  right  away  is  knowledge  of  elementary 
psychology  and  of  the  simplest  principles  of  pedagogy.  This  is  what  all  per¬ 
sons  need  who  are  preparing  to  teach,  and  in  this  respect  there  is  no  difference 
between  teachers  in  elementary  schools  and  teachers  in  high  schools. 

To  acquire  in  the  most  simple  and  direct  way  knowledge  of  the  mutual 
actions  and  reactions  of  the  mind — any  mind — and  its  environment,  knowledge 
of  the  relations  of  the  mind  and  body,  knowledge  of  the  way  the  mind  acts  in 
acquiring  knowledge  and  shaping  conduct  under  its  own  impulses  and  under 
natural  conditions,  and  how  its  actions  may  be  modified  under  the  impulses 
of  a  teacher  and  under  the  artificial  conditions  of  a  school — to  acquire  this 
knowledge  is  the  beginning  of  the  special  education  of  all  teachers.  College 
graduates,  because  of  their  longer  training,  should  have  greater  power  of  con¬ 
centrated  and  sustained  thought  and  should  be  able  to  acquire  this  knowledge 
quicker  than  persons  in  the  ordinary  normal  schools,  but  the  essential  thing 
is  that  it  should  not  be  clouded  by  metaphysics  nor  obscured  by  the  com¬ 
plexities  of  scientific  method. 

With  only  so  much  knowledge  as  this,  the  young  teacher  beginning  in  a 
secondary  school  would  be  saved  from  many  mistakes.  What  is  more  impor¬ 
tant  for  him  he  would  know  that  to  be  a  good  scholar  is  not  all  that  is  required 
to  become  a  good  teacher — a  bit  of  knowledge  that  not  one  secondary  school¬ 
teacher  in  a  hundred  had  ever  heard  of,  or  read  of,  or  dreamed  of  when  he  began 
to  teach. 

3.  Because  the  process  of  development  becomes  more  complex  with  in¬ 
creasing  years,  because  multiplied  and  varied  experiences,  subjective  and 
objective,  need  to  be  organized  and  utilized,  the  secondary-school  teacher 


594 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


needs  to  have  his  attention  concentrated  for  a  time  upon  the  especial  psychology 
of  the  high-school  age.  He  needs  to  know  how  the  function  of  the  teacher 
changes  with  changes  in  the  pupil,  so  that  he  may  waste  no  time  in  false  starts. 
On  the  school  side  there  is  needed  some  elementary  knowledge  of  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  school  organization  and  of  school  and  class  management. 

On  this  common  foundation  for  all  teaching  may  be  built  a  structure  of 
professional  training  as  broad  and  generous  as  circumstances  make  possible — 
a  structure  to  which  all  previous  college  work  may  be  made  to  contribute. 

4.  While  the  elementary  knowledge  thus  briefly  outlined  is  essential  to  the 
teacher’s  success,  to  stop  with  it  would  be  disastrous.  Unless  a  teacher  in  any 
department  gets  a  broader  view  of  the  scope  of  his  work  than  can  be  obtained 
by  looking  at  his  pupils  simply  as  pupils  and  studying  them  with  relation  to 
their  place  and  work  in  his  classroom,  he  has  no  element  of  the  master- 
workman. 

The  most  important  lesson  which  his  training  can  afford  him  is  the  dis¬ 
tinction  between  education  and  schooling,  between  a  man  or  a  woman  and  a 
scholar.  To  come  to  discern  the  higher  functions  of  the  teacher  and  the  course 
of  study  and  the  school  in  view  of  the  larger  life,  is  to  reach  a  view-point  neces¬ 
sary  to  the  teacher  equally  for  his  own  dignity  and  for  his  power  to  inspire  his 
pupils.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the  secondary  school  should  make  its  most 
distinct  contribution  to  the  public.  Because  the  high-school  age  is  peculiarly 
the  age  of  ideals  and  of  enthusiasms,  peculiarly  susceptible  both  to  worldly 
and  unworldly  impressions,  the  views  of  life  held  by  the  teacher  are  of  supreme 
importance,  and  the  teacher’s  powers  of  insight  and  of  influence  need  to  reach 
the  highest  standard  both  in  quality  and  in  degree.  It  is  an  important  part 
of  the  training  of  the  secondary-school  teacher  to  bring  these  facts  vividly  to 
his  attention. 

5.  Another  distinct  line  of  work  in  the  preparation  of  these  teachers  is 
study  of  the  secondary  curriculum.  Assuming  that  these  prospective  teachers 
have  acquired  a  working  knowledge  of  the  subjects  which  they  will  have  to 
teach,  they  need  to  be  taught  how  to  fit  them  to  the  student. 

They  need  to  know  the  value  of  a  subject  for  knowledge  and  for  discipline 
and  how  to  make  it  most  effective  for  both.  They  need  to  know  it  as  a 
whole  and  in  its  parts  and  to  be  able  to  distinguish  between  the  essential  and 
the  nonessential,  that  is,  they  need  to  have  a  sense  of  proportion  developed 
in  judging  the  relation  of  different  subjects  and  of  the  parts  of  one  subject 
to  each  other. 

They  need  to  know'  how  to  use  the  different  activities  of  the  mind  in 
mastering  the  subjects.  And  they  should  be  taught  how'  the  same  goal  may 
be  reached  by  different  routes,  but  that  there  may  be  a  choice  of  routes.  All 
this  may  be  summed  up  in  one  w'ord,  method. 

6.  The  w'ork  thus  far  suggested  is  all  elementary  in  its  character.  A  part 
of  it  is  identical  and  another  part  is  parallel  with  that  given  in  normal  schools. 
Beyond  this  the  work  should  develop  on  the  philosophical  and  historical  side. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


595 


Education  as  a  function  of  society  is  a  subject  which  should  appeal  to  college 
Graduates  with  great  force.  If  they  have  become  interested  in  sociological 
studies,  this  will  prove  one  of  the  most  fascinating;  and,  if  they  have  not  been 
drawn  in  this  direction,  it  will  serv^e  as  a  most  attractive  introduction. 

The  chief  advantage  of  this  subject  is  that  it  is  equally  useful  for  cultural 
and  for  purely  professional  or  vocational  ends.  As  a  part  of  the  outfit  of  a 
man  calling  himself  educated,  it  ranks  by  the  side  of  the  study  of  politics  or 
religion  or  literature  or  science  or  the  family. 

It  may  be  studied  in  accordance  with  the  same  scientific  method  as  these 
other  subjects,  and  it  may  have  the  same  broadening  effect.  To  a  young 
person  engaged  in  preparing  himself  by  special  study  for  a  special  calling,  it  is 
of  the  greatest  value  to  learn  how  that  calling  is  a  part  of  a  larger  whole,  to 
see  that  one  wEo  enters  upon  it  is  not  narrowing  himself  but  is  in  reality  entering 
one  of  the  great  fields  of  human  endeavor,  that  the  problems  at  home  are 
parts  of  larger  problems  to  which  in  all  time  men  have  given  their  supreme 
efforts. 

7.  It  is  at  once  the  misfortune  and  the  shame  of  the  profession  of  teaching 
that  so  few  of  its  members  have  attempted  to  think  beyond  the  petty  problems 
of  their  own  classrooms,  having  lost  themselves  in  the  maze  of  schemes  and 
methods  and  devices.  I  once  spent  a  whole  day  with  a  company  of  distinguished 
secondary-school  teachers  out  for  a  pleasure  excursion,  who  used  all  the  time 
before  dinner,  at  dinner,  and  after  dinner  in  discussing,  weighing,  measuring, 
and  anathematizing  some  recent  changes  in  the  Har^^ard  entrance  require¬ 
ments.  The  study  of  which  I  am  speaking  is  not  the  so-called  history  of 
education  which  forms  a  part  of  the  curriculum  of  many  normal  schools  and 
teachers’  reading  circles.  That  is  too  scrappy  and  disconnected  to  have  any 
value  either  vocational  or  cultural.  Nor  is  it  the  study  of  great  teachers  and 
educational  reformers.  That  is  instructive  and  inspiring  to  teachers  in  any 
grade  of  schools,  but,  in  my  judgment,  would  better  form  a  part  of  the  teacher’s 
private  reading  than  be  introduced  into  a  training-school  curriculum. 

8.  The  work  in  psychology,  general  and  special,  the  work  in  secondary- 
school  method,  and  the  study  of  school  organization  and  management  cannot 
be  successfully  conducted  without  adequate  opportunities  for  observ’ation  and 
practice.  Psychology  abstracted  from  child-life  and  dealt  with  only  as  a 
subject  can  never  be  made  to  enter  in  any  vital  or  vitalizing  way  into  the  mind 
of  the  student  preparing  to  teach.  Only  as  his  psychological  concepts  reflect 
his  own  experiences  and  the  experiences  of  children  and  youth  whom  he  is 
studying  will  they  be  of  any  value  to  him  in  shaping  his  own  teaching. 

The  student’s  observation  should  include  children  of  all  ages  and  in  all 
grades  of  school  at  work  and  at  play.  Especially  should  it  include  the  work 
of  good  secondary-school  teachers.  It  should  be  directed  equally  to  pupils 
and  teachers  that  the  observer  may  learn  how  a  good  teacher  brings  pupil  and 
subject  together  and  uses  the  subject  to  develop  mental  power.  The  student 
should  be  directed  to  observe  the  reactions  between  the  personality  of  the 


596 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


teacher  and  the  personality  of  the  pupil,  and  how  the  skilful  teacher  adapts 
himself  and  his  work  to  the  different  personalities  in  his  class  and  to 
the  vaiydng  moods  of  the  same  pupil.  These  are  subtleties  of  the  teaching 
art  which  can  only  be  conceived  as  they  are  exhibited  in  the  classroom. 

Included  in  the  training  there  should  be  some  opportunity  for  each  pupil 
to  try  himself  in  the  conduct  of  a  class  in  one  or  more  of  the  subjects  of  the 
secondary  curriculum.  The  proper  conditions  of  such  experimental  practice 
are  similar  to  those  required  for  practice  in  elementary  schools  and  need  not 
be  detailed  here. 

9.  Were  all  people  in  agreement  as  to  the  necessity  for  some  preparatory 
training  for  teachers  in  secondary  schools,  and  did  the  lines  of  work  which  I 
have  sketched  appeal  to  all,  there  would  still  remain  the  questions.  Where  can 
the  training  be  best  given  ?  Should  it  be  in  a  normal  school  which  is  also 
training  teachers  for  elementary  schools,  or  in  a  separate  normal  school,  or  in 
a  department  of  a  university  ?  Each  has  its  advantages.  Much  of  the  work 
of  the  existing  normal  schools  is  adapted  equally  to  teachers  in  all  grades  of 
schools.  The  elementary  psychology  and  the  obsen^ation  of  children  which 
accompanies  it  is  general  in  its  application,  and  most  of  the  principles  of 
school  management  apply  equally  to  all  schools. 

Besides  this  the  student  would  be  in  an  atmosphere  sympathetic  toward 
professional  training.  The  presence  of  a  body  of  college-trained  students 
would  also  react  favorably  upon  the  other  classes.  One  objection  to  con¬ 
necting  this  work  with  a  college  or  university,  namely,  lack  of  sympathy  on 
the  part  of  the  college  faculty  and  authorities,  is  gradually  losing  its  weight. 
This  is  shown  by  the  recent  action  of  the  Ohio  legislature  in  establishing  a 
Teachers  College  at  the  State  University  at  Columbus,  and  the  more  sig¬ 
nificant  action  of  Harvard  in  establishing  education  as  a  department  co¬ 
ordinate  with  philosophy  of  which  it  has  heretofore  formed  a  part.  Wdien 
education  in  its  theory  and  practice  comes  to  be  regarded  as  legitimate  a  subject 
of  collegiate  study  as  are  other  lines  of  human  thought  and  social  endeavor,  a 
school  for  training  teachers  may  without  humiliation  to  its  faculty  and  students 
be  organically  connected  with  any  university.  So  placed,  the  school  w'ould 
have  some  advantage.  The  use  of  college  libraries  and  laboratories,  the  associ¬ 
ation  with  scholars,  the  cultural  traditions  would  be  useful  on  the  side  of  the 
scholarship  of  the  prospective  teacher,  and  so  placed  the  school  might  win  its 
way  more  directly  to  the  interest  and  sympathy  of  secondary-school  teachers 
in  w’hose  schools  and  classes  the  work  of  observation  and  practice  would  have 
to  be  carried  on. 

On  the  other  hand,  both  the  university  connection  and  the  special  school 
are  open  to  the  objection  that  they  tend  to  perpetuate  the  caste  spirit  which 
in  many  quarters  is  now  so  strong.  That  secondary-school  teachers  should 
assume  that  for  any  reason  they  are  a  class  apart  is  most  unfortunate.  What 
the  public  schools  need  is  some  unifying  influence  which  shall  obliterate  all 
distinctions  based  on  such  accidents  as  age  and  grade  and  curriculum,  and 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


597 


which  shall  unite  all  teachers  in  the  study  of  common  problems  and  in  the 
advancement  of  common  interests.  Some  such  influences  are  already  at  work. 

It  is  doubtful  if  it  would  be  possible  or  wise  to  prescribe  a  universal  rule 
as  to  the  associations  under  which  teachers  should  be  trained.  That  will 
prove  to  be  the  best  place  where,  under  a  faculty  broad  enough  to  have  studied 
all  the  fields  of  educational  effort,  with  opportunities  for  observation  which 
include  children  and  youth  of  all  ages  and  for  practice  in  secondary  schools  of 
acknowledged  excellence,  in  an  atmosphere  sympathetic  toward  every  form  of 
training,  the  students  will  come  to  feel  that  they  are  members  of  no  mean 
profession,  and  will  grow  to  some  adequate  conception  that  the  work  demands 
and  is  worthy  of  and  will  repay  the  most  earnest  and  strenuous  endeavor. 


XI^ 

M.  V.  o’SHEA,  PROFESSOR  OF  THE  SCIENCE  AND  ART  OF  EDUCATION,  UNIVERSITY 

OF  WISCONSIN 

1.  Requirement  of  professional  interest  and  intention. — In  the  improvement 
of  the  high-school  teacher  it  is  imperative  that  teaching  in  the  secondary  school 
be  regarded  as  a  serious  profession,  which  cannot  be  entered  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment  by  persons  who  are  without  other  employment.  In  respect  to  its 
teaching  force,  the  high  school  is  now  too  much  of  a  half-way  station  between 
the  university  and  the  bar,  the  hospital,  the  counting-room,  and  other  interests. 
In  this  matter  we  can  learn  useful  lessons  from  Germany,  France,  and  other 
European  countries.  All  our  efforts  at  training  secondary-school  teachers 
must  prove  more  or  less  ineffective  until  candidates  come  to  us  in  some  such  a 
frame  of  mind  and  with  such  intentions  as  those  usually  have  who  are  pre¬ 
paring  for  law  or  medicine  or  engineering  or  commerce.  It  is  believed  that  if 
the  requirements  indicated  in  the  following  theses  be  met,  the  need  expressed 
in  this  first  one  will  be  realized. 

2.  Requirement  of  native  fitness. — Speaking  generally,  but  slight  attention 
is  now  given  to  personal  characteristics  in  the  selection  of  high-school  teachers. 
Consequently  they  are  very  frequently  defective  in  qualities  of  leadership. 
Most  colleges  and  universities  have  no  effective  method  of  choosing  those 
among  their  students  who  are  by  native  endowment  well  equipped  for  teaching. 
Practically  all  who  have  secured  a  diploma,  and  completed  the  small  amount 
of  required  study  in  the  department  of  education,  are  certificated,  regardless  of 
their  natural  fitness  for  this  special  work. 

It  is  imperative  that  the  institutions  that  train  high-school  teachers  should 

>  On  a  number  of  occasions  the  writer  has  expressed  his  views  in  considerable  detail  respecting  various 
aspects  of  the  training  of  the  high-school  teacher,  and  it  seems  appropriate  at  this  time  to  treat  the  subject 
assigned  him  by  presenting  a  series  of  theses  without  elaboration.  If  any  reader  should  be  interested  in  the 
arguments  upon  which  these  theses  are  based,  he  might  glance  over  the  following:  “Teachers  by  the  Grace 
of  God”  {Journal  of  Pedagogy,  Vol.  XIII,  1900);  “Concerning  High-School  Teachers”  {The  School  Revietv, 
Vol.  X,  1902);  “Psychology  in  the  Training  of  Teachers”  {Elementary  School  Teacher,  November,  1904); 
“The  Function  of  the  University  in  the  Training  of  Teachers”  {The  School  Review,  Vol.  VIII,  1900);  “Uni¬ 
versities  and  Normal  Schools  in  the  Training  of  Secondary-School  Teachers”  (Part  I,  of  Fourth  Yearbook 
of  the  Society  for  the  Scientific  Study  of  Education). 


598 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


adopt  a  plan  whereby  they  may  early  discover  candidates  who  do  not  meet 
the  personal  requirements,  and  dissuade  them  from  striving  to  become  teachers. 
The  opinions  of  all  who  have  had  to  deal  with  the  student  during  his  academic 
career  should  be  secured,  but  the  department  of  education  should  be  specially 
responsible  for  the  task  indicated  in  this  thesis.  Altho  the  problem  is  a  pecu¬ 
liarly  difficult  one,  and  cannot  be  solved  completely  under  existing  conditions 
in  colleges  and  universities,  still  if  the  need  be  felt  deeply  more  can  be  done 
than  is  now  done  in  most  places.  But  the  universities  must  act  in  unison; 
no  single  institution  can  make  great  headway  against  the  academic  tradition 
that  one  can  teach  in  a  high  school  if  only  he  has  amassed  a  sufficient  amount 
of  formal  knowledge  in  any  subject. 

3.  Requirement  oj  scholarship. — One  cannot  teach  a  subject  unless  he 
has  thoroly  mastered  it.  He  must  have  a  real,  vital  grasp  of  it,  and  not  merely 
a  formal  or  verbal  knowledge  of  it.  Teachers  are  often  found  giving  instruc¬ 
tion  in  subjects  which  they  have  acquired  for  purposes  of  securing  a  certificate 
and  such  instruction  is  always  shallow,  mechanical,  ineffective.  It  amounts 
often  to  little  more  than  memoriter  drill  on  unintelligible  technical  terms. 

Teachers  in  secondary  schools  should  be  certificated  to  teach  not  all  subjects 
whatsoever,  but  only  the  subject  in  which  they  have  shown  special  proficiency. 
To  meet  the  necessities  of  teaching  in  small  high  schools,  it  will  often  be  neces¬ 
sary  for  teachers  to  teach  more  than  one  subject;  but  in  such  case,  the  cer¬ 
tificate  should  indicate  the  major  subject  (the  candidate’s  specialty)  and  the 
minor  subjects,  not  to  exceed  two  in  any  case.  The  several  departments  of 
the  university  should  be  made  solely  responsible  for  determining  which  of 
their  students  have  acquired  such  a  genuine  mastery  of  their  respective  sub¬ 
jects  that  they  may  be  certificated  to  teach  them. 

A  teacher’s  mastery  of  a  subject  must  include  an  understanding  of  what 
aspects  thereof  are  most  appropriate  for  secondary-school  students  and  what 
point  of  view  in  presenting  the  subject  will  prove  most  effective.  To  this  end 
every  teacher  should  be  required  to  complete  a  teacher’s  course  in  the  subject 
he  is  to  teach,  and  this  course  should  be  conducted  by  one  who  is  thoroly 
familiar  alike  with  the  subject,  and  with  the  nature  and  needs  of  secondary- 
school  pupils.  Mere  advanced,  technical  courses  should  not  be  regarded  as 
in  any  sense  teachers’  courses,  as  is  now  the  case  in  some  universities.  The 
teacher’s  course  should  be  regarded  as  graduate  work,  as  indicated  in  the 
following  thesis. 

4.  Requirement  oj  studies  in  education. — The  experience  of  nations  has 
shown  that  in  order  to  achieve  the  highest  success  teachers  should  understand 
the  subject  as  well  as  the  material  of  education,  and  should  become  possessed 
of  what  is  known  respecting  methods  of  economy  and  efficiency  in  organizing 
and  managing  a  class  or  a  school  or  an  educational  system.  Further,  the 
teacher  is  a  servant  of  society  in  a  very  vital  sense,  and  he  should  be  made  con¬ 
scious  of  his  opportunities  and  duties  in  this  respect.  To  meet  these  require¬ 
ments,  then,  every  teacher  should  complete  courses  treating  of  the  principles 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


599 


of  human  nature  in  general,  and  of  the  nature  of  secondary-school  pupils  in 
particular.  He  should  also  complete  a  course  treating  of  the  psychology  of 
learning  under  the  conditions  of  school  education.  These  courses  should 
confer  upon  him  greater  efficiency  in  adjusting  his  subject  as  a  whole  and  in 
each  part  to  the  needs  and  capabilities  of  his  pupils.  Next,  he  should  complete 
courses  treating  of  the  history  and  principles  of  education,  so  that  he  may 
realize  what  are  the  aims  of  educational  work,  viewed  in  the  light  of  contem¬ 
porary  thought,  and  how  these  aims  have  been  developed.  These  courses 
should  make  him  conscious  of  the  supreme  ends  to  keep  in  view  in  his  teaching, 
and  what  should  be  the  relation  of  his  subject  to  the  other  work  of  his  pupils 
and  of  the  school  as  a  whole.  Finally,  the  teacher  should  complete  a  course 
treating  of  his  proper  relations  to  the  extra-school  interests  in  the  community  in 
which  he  teaches. 

These  professional  studies  may  best  be  pursued  as  graduate  work.  The 
training  of  the  secondary-school  teacher  will  be  seriously  defective  so  long  as 
he  completes  both  his  academic  and  his  professional  studies  during  his  under¬ 
graduate  course.  The  courses  in  education  described  above  should  occupy 
two-thirds  of  a  graduate  year.  If  the  candidate  spends  no  time  in  graduate 
study,  as  is  the  case  generally  at  present,  then  these  professional  studies  should 
occupy  an*  equivalent  of  one-half  of  his  senior  year. 

5.  Requirement  of  observation  and  practice. — It  is  universally  recognized 
that  effective  instruction  in  medicine,  law,  engineering,  agriculture,  and  the 
like  requires  opportunities  for  concrete  demonstration,  and  for  practice  to  a 
limited  extent  at  least.  Teaching  is  no  exception  in  this  regard.  It  is,  how¬ 
ever,  a  fact  that  education,  concerned  as  it  is  with  the  exposition  of  principles 
for  effective  instruction,  is  more  seriously  handicapped  than  any  other  subject 
in  observing  the  principles  it  expounds.  There  is  need  in  the  first  place  of  an 
educational  museum,  wherein  may  be  displayed  specimens  of  all  useful  educa¬ 
tional  appliances,  illustrative  materials,  textbooks,  etc.  It  is  imperative,  in 
the  second  place,  that  there  be  in  every  institution  training  high-school  teachers 
a  fully  organized  and  well-equipped  school  typifying  the  school  system  in  which 
students  wiU  teach.  This  school  should  be  constantly  utilized  to  give  definite¬ 
ness,  concreteness,  and  vitality  to  instruction  in  every  phase  of  educational 
theory  and  practice.  So  far  as  feasible  it  should  be  utilized  also  for  the  testing 
of  educational  theories  at  present  in  dispute.  Finally,  it  should  be  utilized 
for  the  purpose  of  initiating  the  novice  in  the  practice  of  his  art.  It  will  not 
ordinarily  be  possible  or  desirable  to  perfect  him  in  technique,  but  his  special 
needs  can  be  discovered,  and  he  can  be  put  in  the  way  of  curing  his  faults  by 
his  own  efforts  while  he  is  actually  in  service. 

The  schools  of  observation  and  practice  should  be  regarded  as  laboratories 
for  the  work  in  education,  and  in  no  sense  as  schools  preparator}'  to  the  uni¬ 
versity.  They  should  be  under  the  control  of  the  department  of  education, 
which  should  be  responsible  for  curricula  and  methods  of  teaching  and  dis¬ 
cipline.  So  far  as  possible  the  department  of  education  should  secure  the 


6oo 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


active  co-operation  of  all  departments  of  the  university  having  in  charge  sub¬ 
jects  taught  in  an  elementary  way  in  the  schools  in  question.  The  teachers’ 
courses  in  the  university  should  be  presented  with  constant  reference  to  the 
work  done  in  these  schools. 

5(2.  Wherever  it  is  at  all  feasible,  the  university  should  enter  into  relations 
with  the  high  schools  in  its  vicinity  so  that  candidates  may  have  some  practice 
under  ordinary  public-school  conditions.  The  university  should  contribute  to 
the  salaries  of  a  certain  number  of  teachers  in  these  high  schools,  to  the  end 
that  unusually  competent  persons  may  be  secured,  who  may  serve  the  uni¬ 
versity  as  critics  of  practice  teachers.  These  critics  should  be  appointed  by 
the  university,  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  department  of  education,  and 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  board  of  education  in  charge  of  the  high  school. 
Practical  work  of  the  character  indicated  should  occupy  at  least  one-third 
of  the  time  which  the  candidate  devotes  to  professional  studies,  and  it  should 
be  regarded  as  absolutely  essential  to  the  efficient  training  of  high-school 
teachers. 


XII  {special) 

REQUIREMENTS  AND  STANDARDS 

FREDERICK  E.  BOLTON,  PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION,  STATE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  IOWA 

I.  Requirements  for  High-School  Certification. 

II.  The  University  and  the  College  as  Training-Schools  for  High-School 
Teachers. 

HI.  Standards  in  Germany. 

IV.  Standards  Suggested  for  American  Schools. 

In  beginning  to  prepare  this  paper  an  attempt  was  made  to  secure  thru  a 
questionnaire  statistics  showing  the  specific  kind  of  training  and  experience 
which  the  high-school  teachers  have  actually  had  in  a  number  of  typical  states. 
The  inadequate  returns  received  made  any  exhaustive  statistical  study  impos¬ 
sible.  In  only  a  few  states  has  any  attempt  been  made  to  gather  such  data. 
Some  state  superintendents  replied  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  their  probable 
feeling  that  such  information  would  be  entirely  superfluous.  But  not  until 
the  statistics  can  be  arrayed  so  as  to  show  the  glaring  lack  of  uniformity  and 
how  many  teachers  are  below  even  moderate  standards  can  we  expect  to  improve 
conditions.  School  boards  and  legislatures  must  be  convinced  thru  unequiw 
ocal  testimony  that  woeful  deficiencies  exist  often  where  the  public  boasts 
the  most.  About  buildings  and  grounds  the  popular  mind  may  have  some 
intelligent  opinions,  but  the  ordinary  school  public  does  not  discriminate 
between  the  expert  teacher  and  the  time-server.  In  the  minds  of  the  people, 
so  long  as  friction  is  avoided,  any  teacher  is  considered  a  good  teacher. 

Failing  to  secure  the  adequate  data  concerning  the  actual  preparation  of 
teachers  in  service,  I  have  investigated  the  laws  of  all  the  states  to  find  the 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


6oi 


legal  provisions  concerning  high-school  teaching.  We  should  bear  in  mind 
that  the  actual  preparation  made  by  many,  even  a  majority,  is  much  better 
than  that  demanded  by  statutes.  Local  demands  in  the  better  cities  are 
naturally  in-  advance  of  legislation.  Statutory  provisions  can  seldom  be 
secured  until  the  wisdom  of  the  requirements  has  been  rather  generally  demon¬ 
strated.  There  is  very  little  constructive  legislation,  especially  school  legis¬ 
lation.  Legislative  bodies  in  old-settled  states  are  very  conservative  and 
merely  reflect  what  they  believe  to  be  public  opinion  by  confirming  thru 
statutory  provisions  what  is  well  established  in  practice.  Since  they  are 
usually  so  ignorant  concerning  educational  needs  it  is  seldom  possible  to  con¬ 
vince  them  of  desirable  legislation  until  long  after  various  localities  have 
proceeded  way  beyond  the  measures  enacted.  In  new  states  where  traditions 
do  not  fetter  and  public  opinion  is  little  crystallized  much  more  constructive 
legislation  is  secured  than  in  the  older  states. 

As  was  believed,  most  of  the  states  were  found  to  be  without  legislation 
differentiating  the  high-school  teacher  from  any  other.  In  many  school  codes 
the  term  high  school  does  not  appear.  This  branch  of  the  public  school 
system  is  a  product  of  evolution  which  has  come  largely  without  legislative 
enactment.  Localities  developed  at  first  simply  “upper  rooms,”  “higher 
departments,”  etc.,  and  then  bestowed  the  name  high  school  without  waiting 
permission  or  measurement  by  state  authority. 

Thus,  singularly  enough,  in  most  states,  altho  state  certificates  and  diplomas 
are  awarded  to  those  who  seek  them,  yet  nobody  is  required  to  have  them. 
Legally,  the  one  possessing  the  lowest  grade  of  county  or  town  certificate  may 
teach  in  the  highest  grade  of  school.  Many  cities  have  secured  state  authority 
to  regulate  the  certification  of  their  own  teachers  and  usually  have  differen¬ 
tiated  the  certificates  for  the  various  grades  of  work.  There  is  a  crying  need 
now  for  all  states  to  make  the  differentiation.  There  is  also  great  desirability 
of  securing  uniform  laws  in  all  the  states  so  as  to  secure  inter-state  comity  in 
matters  of  certification. 

A  few  pioneer  states  have  secured  desirable  legislation  relating  to  the  certi¬ 
fication  of  the  various  grades  of  teachers  and  it  might  be  parenthetically 
observed  that  these  states  are  already  forging  ahead  in  educational  matters 
in  a  variety  of  ways. 

I.  REQUIREMENTS  FOR  HIGH-SCHOOL  CERTIFICATION 

In  the  following  paragraphs  mention  is  made  mainly  of  those  states  which 
have  specific  legislation  determining  the  qualifications  of  high-school  teachers. 
In  general,  where  the  laws  simply  state  that  all  teachers  must  possess  a  legal 
license  and  do  not  distinguish  between  elementary  and  secondary  no  mention 
is  made  of  the  states.  A  few  others  are  mentioned  because  it  was  possible  to 
secure  definite  statistics  concerning  the  teachers  in  service. 

In  Arizona  only  those  holding  the  diploma  of  the  Territorial  Board  of 
Education  or  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  Normal  Schools  of  the  territory 


6o2 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


are  eligible  to  teach  in  the  high  schools.  Diplomas  and  state  certificates  from 
the  other  states  may  be  recognized  by  the  Territorial  Board. 

Colorado  demands  that  all  who  teach  in  the  high  schools  of  that  state  shall 
take  a  county  examination  covering  all  the  branches  taught  in  the  high  school. 

In  the  District  of  Columbia  all  high-school  teachers  must  have  a  special 
certificate  which  qualifies  the  holder  for  that  grade  of  work  only. 

In  Connecticut  there  are  4,316  teachers  in  the  state  of  whom  about  1,400 
are  normal-school  graduates  and  about  400  graduates  of  colleges  and  uni¬ 
versities.  Most  of  these  400  are  teaching  in  high  schools.  Inasmuch  as 
there  are  only  66  high  schools  in  the  state  it  is  probably  true  that  most  of  the 
teachers  in  the  high  schools  are  college  or  university  graduates. 

California  has  set  the  highest  pace  in  the  United  States  with  reference  to 
the  qualifications  for  high-school  teachers.  Under  statutory  provisions  the 
State  Board  of  Education  grants  all  certificates  for  teaching  in  the  high  schools 
of  the  state.  These  may  be  obtained  by  examination  or  otherwise  but  ^‘no  cre¬ 
dentials  shall  be  prescribed  or  allowed  unless  the  same,  in  the  judgment  of 
said  board,  are  the  equivalent  of  a  diploma  of  graduation  from  the  University 
of  California  and  are  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  holder  thereof  has  taken  an 
amount  of  pedagogy  equivalent  to  the  minimum  amount  of  pedagogy  pre¬ 
scribed  by  the  State  Board  of  Education  of  this  state,  and  include  a  recom¬ 
mendation  for  a  high-school  certificate  from  the  faculty  of  the  institution  in 
which  the  pedagogical  work  shall  have  been  taken.”  California  accepts  the  di¬ 
plomas  from  all  the  universities  belonging ’to  the  Association  of  American 
Universities,  and  also  from  fifteen  other  selected  colleges  and  universities 
thruout  the  United  States,  provided  the  graduates  have  taken  courses  in  the 
theory  of  education,  or  have  had  actual  practice  in  teaching  un^er  supervision 
of  the  pedagogical  faculty,  equivalent  to  twelve  hours  per  week  for  one-half 
year.  Graduates  of  all  the  accepted  colleges  not  belonging  to  the  Association 
of  American  Universities  must  have  completed  subsequent  to  graduation  one- 
half  year  of  advanced  academic  or  professional  (pedagogical)  work,  in  resi¬ 
dence,  either  at  the  same  institution  or  at  some  other  accepted  institution,  or 
in  lieu  of  such  graduate  study,  have  taught  with  decided  success,  as  regular 
teacher  or  as  principal,  at  least  twenty  months  in  any  reputable  school, 
elementary  or  secondary.  After  July,  1906,  at  least  one-third  of  the  pre¬ 
scribed  pedagogy  shall  consist  of  actual  teaching  in  a  well-equipped  training- 
school  of  secondary  grade,  directed  by  the  department  of  education.  After 
July  1, 1908,  practice  teaching  in  a  school  of  the  grammar  grade  in  connection 
with  the  California  state  normal  schools  will  be  accepted  as  an  equivalent. 

In  Florida,  high  schools  cannot  be  recognized  as  such  unless  the  teachers 
employed  to  give  instruction  therein  are  competent  to  teach  the  subjects 
required  by  the  official  course  of  study,  and  no  school  will  be  granted  state  aid 
unless  such  teachers  are  provided.  While  it  is  not  now  deemed  practicable  to 
require  all  such  teachers  to  hold  state  certificates,  it  is  recommended  that 
preference  always  be  given  by  boards  to  the  holders  of  such  certificates. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


603 


In  Iowa,  the  most  democratic  and  individualistic  state  in  the  Union,  there 
is  utter  lack  of  uniformity.  All  depends  upon  local  autonomy.  The  term 
high  school  does  not  appear  in  any  legislative  enactment,  there  is  no  defini¬ 
tion  of  the  term  except  that  which  each  community  chooses  to  give  to  it,  and 
the  state  superintendent’s  ofl&ce  has  no  authority  to  regulate  its  courses  or 
prescribe  qualifications  for  the  teachers  employed.  Any  one  possessing  a 
third  grade  county  certificate  may  legally  teach  in  any  high  school  in  the  state. 
Notwithstanding  this  chaotic  condition  of  educational  legislation  the  state 
has  many  high  schools  which  are  unexcelled  anywhere.  The  wealth  of  the 
state,  the  life  in  small  cities  possessing  large  rural  population  within  a  ra  ius 
of  a  few  miles  of  each,  the  uniformity  of  nationality,  the  lack  of  slums  and 
factory  districts  give  natural  advantages  which  would  easily  give  it  with 
proper  legislation  the  greatest  school  system  of  the  United  States.  The  state 
is  suffering  because  of  its  prejudices  against  any  form  of  centralization  of 
power. 

There  are  in  the  state  about  650  graded  schools  which  call  themselves 
high  schools.  Nearly  all  of  these  might  become  high  schools  if  the  proper 
teaching  force  were  employed,  proper  equipment  secured,  and  a  little  effort 
made  to  enlist  the  interest  of  the  rural  population  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 
This  has  been  demonstrated  in  many  small  villages  where  they  have  become 
awake  to  the  possibilities.  As  it  is,  not  more  than  250,  judged  by  proper 
standards,  have  any  right  to  be  called  high  schools.  There  are  185  schools 
on  the  accredited  list  of  the  State  University.  In  these  there  are  879  teachers, 
including  the  principals  and  superintendents.  Of  these  453  are  university  or 
college  graduates,  189  have  had  from  one  to  three  years  in  some  college,  84 
are  normal-school  graduates  only.  The  remainder  have  had  very  little 
academic  or  professional  training.  Regrettable  as  it  is,  one  in  fourteen  or  one 
teacher  in  every  third  accredited  school  has  had  no  institutional  training 
beyond  that  afforded  by  the  high  school,  and  that  usually  in  the  home  school. 
Of  the  total  number  employed  332  had  been  teaching  ten  years  or  more,  265 
had  five  or  more  years’  experience,  while  61  were  beginners.  Statistics  from 
all  the  schools  which  have  any  claim  to  the  title  of  high  school  would  show  a 
much  smaller  number  of  college  graduates  and  many  more  raw  recruits. 

Louisiana  definitely  recognizes  high  schools  and  makes  an  attempt  to 
secure  the  best  quality  of  teachers  for  these  schools.  In  1892  a  law  was 
passed  imposing  a  penalty  on  all  local  school  boards  who  failed  to  give  pref¬ 
erence  to  state  normal-school  graduates  and  graduates  of  colleges  when 
employing  teachers. 

In  Maine,  according  to  the  laws  of  1904,  the  highest  grade  of  state  cer¬ 
tificate  is  necessary  to  teach  in  any  free  high  schools  of  the  state.  Candidates 
who  are  college  graduates  or  graduates  from  the  college  preparatory  course  or 
its  equivalent  in  a  first-class  academy  or  high  school,  and  whose  average  rank 
is  90  and  whose  rank  in  any  subject  is  not  less  than  70  will  receive  a  certificate 
of  the  highest  grade.  Others  who  are  not  graduates  but  whose  rank  is  excep- 


6o4 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


tionally  high,  who  can  teach  high-school  subjects,  including  at  least  one  ancient 
and  one  modern  language,  and  who  have  taught  successfully  in  high  school, 
may  receive  a  certificate  of  highest  grade. 

Massachusetts  has  262  high  schools  requiring  1,820  teachers.  Altho  the 
laws  do  not  specify  any  particular  grade  of  certificate  the  sentiment  of  the 
people  has  secured  a  high  grade  of  teachers.  Of  the  teachers  in  the  high 
schools  1,410  are  college  graduates.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  remaining 
410  are  at  least  normal-school  graduates.  Only  98  have  taught  for  less  than 
one  year. 

Minnesota  requires  that  any  teacher  employed  in  a  state  high  school  must 
hold  a  first-grade  professional  state  certificate,  issued  either  on  a  collegiate 
diploma  or  upon  examination.  However,  the  state  superintendent  may  issue 
a  permit,  valid  for  one  year,  to  high-school  teachers  who  have  not  had  the 
necessary  teaching  experience  in  Minnesota  to  entitle  them  to  a  first-grade 
professional  certificate  but  who  are  otherwise  qualified.  A  first-grade  state 
professional  certificate  may  be  obtained  by  graduates  from  the  University  of 
Minnesota  or  from  another  university  or  college  of  equal  rank.  The  applicant 
must  first  have  secured  a  state  first-grade  certificate  and  must  also  have  taught 
with  success  not  less  than  nine  months  in  a  public  school  in  a  state.  Appli¬ 
cants  who  are  not  graduates  must  have  the  teaching  experience  and  the  first- 
grade  certificate  noted  above,  and,  in  addition,  will  be  required  to  pass  a 
successful  examination  in  the  following  branches:  astronomy,  bookkeeping, 
botany,  chemistry,  English  literature,  general  history,  geology,  history  of 
education,  logic,  moral  philosophy,  political  economy,  psychology,  rhetoric, 
school  economy,  school  law,  solid  geometry,  trigonometry,  zoology.  A  state 
professional  certificate  of  the  first-grade  is  valid  to  teach  in  any  public  school 
of  the  state,  including  high  schools.  It  is  made  valid  for  periods  ranging 
from  one  year  to  life,  according  to  the  merit  of  the  holder.  A  certificate  of 
graduation  from  the  department  of  pedagogy  at  the  State  University  ent'tles 
the  holder  to  teach  in  any  public  school  in  the  state  for  a  period  of  two  years 
immediately  following  graduation.  At  the  end  of  such  period  the  certificate 
may  be  indorsed  by  the  president  of  the  State  University  and  the  state  super¬ 
intendent  of  public  instruction,  when  it  becomes  a  life  certificate.  It  is  of 
interest  to  note  that  graduates  of  Minnesota  state  normal  schools  or  other 
normal  schools  of  equal  rank  outside  of  the  state,  are  not  entitled  to  teach  in 
the  high  schools.  They  receive  first  temporary  and  then  life  certificates  which 
are  valid  in  any  public  school  in  the  state  below  the  high  school  department. 
The  state  teachers’  first-grade  certificate,  valid  for  five  years  to  teach  in  any 
public  school  in  the  state,  will  not  qualify  the  holder  to  teach  in  the  high 
school  or  even  for  the  principalship  of  a  state  graded  school.  These  rigid 
regulations  have  raised  the  quality  of  the  teaching  force  and  the  salaries  of 
teachers  in  Minnesota  very  materially. 

According  to  figures  furnished  by  State  High-School  Inspector  Alton,  there 
are  192  high  schools  in  the  state  employing  870  teachers,  including  the  super- 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


605 


intendents.  Of  these  733  are  graduates  of  a  college  or  a  university  and  only  56 
are  graduates  of  a  normal  school.  It  is  well  known  that  very  generous  state  aid 
is  provided,  whereby  each  standard  high  school  receives  $1,500  from  the  state 
treasury.  This  state  aid  affords  better  salaries  and  attracts  better  teachers. 
The  state  aid  and  the  high  standard  of  scholarship  demanded  have  put  Minne¬ 
sota  in  the  very  front  rank  educationally. 

In  iVIontana  it  is  provided  that  no  person  shall  be  employed  as  a  teacher  in 
a  high  school  or  as  the  principal  teacher  in  a  school  of  more  than  two  depart¬ 
ments  who  is  not  the  holder  of  a  professional  county  certificate  or  the  holder 
of  a  life  state  diploma  issued  by  the  State  Board  of  Education  of  Montana,  or 
who  is  not  a  graduate  of  some  reputable  university,  college,  or  normal  school. 

New  Jersey  provides  that  all  teachers  in  the  high  schools  must  possess 
either  a  first-grade  county  certificate,  a  first-grade  city  certificate,  or  a  state 
certificate.  The  first-grade  certificate  requires  an  examination  in  the  theory 
and  practice  of  teaching,  New  Jersey  school  law,  the  history  of  education, 
and  general  history,  in  addition  to  the  usual  branches  required  for  a  second- 
grade  certificate.  The  lowest  grade  of  state  certificate  involves  an  examina¬ 
tion  equivalent  to  that  required  for  the  first-grade  county  certificate  and,  in 
addition  thereto,  psychology,  plane  and  solid  geometry,  literature,  botany, 
and  free-hand  drawing,  or  in  place  of  one  or  more  of  these  subjects  such  other 
subjects  as  the  State  Board  of  Examiners  may  require.  This  lowest  or  third- 
grade  state  certificate  is  valid  for  seven  years. 

In  Nevada  no  one  may  teach  in  a  high  school  who  does  not  possess  either 
.the  county  high-school  certificate,  which  is  good  for  four  years,  or  a  state  cer¬ 
tificate  granted  from  the  Nevada  State  Normal  School  or  by  a  reputable  uni¬ 
versity  or  college  from  which  the  bachelor  of  arts  degree  has  been  received. 
Pedagogy  is  also  required  in  the  course.  The  state  life  diploma  also  is  a  valid 
license  to  teach  in  any  public  high  school. 

New  York  will  not  allow  teachers  to  hold  positions  in  the  high  schools 
unless  possessed  of  some  specified  grade  of  certificate.  At  the  present  time 
they  accept  for  high-school  teaching  what  are  known  as  the  training-school 
certificate,  the  state  certificate,  the  state  special  certificate,  the  normal  diploma, 
the  college  graduate  certificate,  and  the  college-graduate  professional  cer¬ 
tificate.  College  graduates  are  given  a  provisional  certificate  valid  for  two 
years.  If  they  pass  an  examination  upon  psycholog)^,  history  of  education, 
principles  of  education,  methods  of  teaching,  during  those  two  years  they  may 
be  awarded  a  permanent  certificate.  Those  college  graduates  who  have 
completed  a  course  in  pedagogy  outlined  by  the  state  receive  a  certificate  valid 
for  three  years,  at  the  end  of  which  the  same  may  be  indorsed  by  the  state 
commissioner  of  education  and  made  a  life  certificate.  In  New  York  39  per 
cent,  of  the  high-school  teachers  and  43  per  cent,  of  Ihe  principals  are  college 
graduates. 

Nebraska  has  taken  a  most  important  step  toward  providing  competent 
teachers  for  the  high  schools  of  that  state.  On  and  after  September  i,  1907 


6o6 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


no  person  shall  be  granted  a  certificate  to  teach  in  the  high-school  department 
of  any  high-school  district  or  in  the  high-school  department  of  any  city  school 
district  in  the  state  who  is  not  a  graduate  from  a  regular  four-year  course  of  a 
college  or  university,  or  a  graduate  from  the  advanced  course  of  a  college, 
university,  or  normal  school  in  the  state  authorized  by  law  to  grant  teachers’ 
certificates,  or  who  does  not  hold  a  professional  state  certificate  obtained  from 
the  state  superintendent  on  examination.  During  the  interim  between  now 
and  August,  1907,  high-school  principals  and  city  superintendents  may  obtain 
a  first-grade  county  certificate,  valid  for  three  years,  which  will  make  them 
eligible  to  teach  in  any  high-school  district  or  city  school  district  until  September 
I,  1910. 

Ohio,  which  long  lagged  behind  in  the  matter  of  educational  legislation, 
has  probably  outdone  all  other  states  in  several  respects.  One  of  these  is  in 
accurately  defining  high  schools  and  colleges.  Then,  to  be  consistent,  the 
qualifications  of  high-school  teachers  have  also  been  thoroly  defined.  All 
teachers  in  the  high  schools  must  possess  some  form  of  a  high-school  certificate. 
This  certificate  may  be  issued  either  by  the  county  or  the  state.  All  county 
high-school  certificates  must  include  the  usual  branches  required  for  a  third- 
grade  certificate,  and,  in  addition,  literature,  general  history,  algebra,  physics, 
physiology,  and  four  branches  from  the  following  list:  Latin,  German, 
rhetoric,  civil  government,  geometry,  physical  geography,  botany,  and  chem¬ 
istry.  In  addition,  the  certificate  must  show  that  the  candidate  “possesses 
an  adequate  knowledge  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching.”  Special 
high-school  certificates  are  issued,  valid  only  for  the  branches  mentioned  in 
the  certificate,  but  it  is  further  provided  that  no  person  be  employed  as  a 
special  teacher  of  music,  drawing,  painting,  penmanship,  gymnastics,  German, 
French,  the  commercial  industrial  branches,  in  any  elementary  or  high  school 
who  has  not  a  certificate  of  good  moral  character  and  a  certificate  of  pro¬ 
ficiency  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching.  Cities  which  have  the  power 
to  grant  certificates  must  observe  similar  conditions.  The  state  certificates 
are,  of  course,  of  a  still  higher  grade. 

Texas  allows  cities  of  five  hundred  or  more  school  population  to  establish 
their  own  boards  of  examiners  which  issue  different  classes  of  certificates 
corresponding  to  the  grade  of  work  to  be  taught.  The  high-school  certificate 
is  a  prerequisite  to  teaching  in  the  high  school  and  is  valid  for  high-school  work 
only.  State  certificates  are  recognized  by  these  boards.  Diplomas  from  the 
State  University  which  certify  to  the  requisite  amount  of  pedagogical  work 
are  valid  as  state  certificates. 

In  Washington,  D.  C.,  certificates  are  limited  to  special  grades  of  schools. 
The  certificates  are  issued  by  the  city.  Only  a  special  certificate  will  be 
accepted  for  high-school  work.  Graduation  from  the  Washington  normal 
schools  and  other  approved  normal  schools  is  recognized  toward  certification. 

In  Wisconsin  all  teachers  must  have  some  form  of  state  certificate  to  be 
qualified  to  teach  in  the  high  schools  of  the  state.  The  state  certificates  are  of 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


607 


two  grades — the  limited  five-year  certificate,  and  the  life  certificate.  These 
certificates  may  be  gained  by  examination  or  thru  countersignature  of  state 
normal-school  diplomas,  college  diplomas,  or  university  diplomas.  A  diploma 
granted  upon  the  completion  of  a  collegiate  course  in  the  State  University  of 
Wisconsin  or  from  the  full  course  of  any  Wisconsin  normal  school  is  valid  as  a 
temporary  certificate  for  one  year  and  after  countersignature  by  the  state  super¬ 
intendent  is  validated  as  a  life  state  certificate.  Diplomas  granted  by  other 
colleges  and  normal  schools,  within  and  without  the  state,  whose  course  of 
study  are  equivalent  to  those  recognized  in  Wisconsin  may  be  recognized  in 
the  same  way  as  those  issued  in  the  state.  Life  state  certificates  issued  by  other 
states  may  be  countersigned  by  the  state  superintendent  of  Wisconsin  upon  the 
recommendation  of  the  State  Board  of  Examiners,  and  thereby  become  life 
certificates  in  the  state.  The  diploma  granted  upon  the  completion  of  the 
elementary  course  of  the  state  normal  schools  qualifies  the  holder  only  for 
positions  as  assistants  in  four-year  high  schools  or  as  principals  of  three-year 
high  schools.  All  principals  and  all  teachers  of  four-year  high  school  courses 
must  possess  an  equivalent  of  the  life  state  certificate.  Assistants  may  secure 
a  special  state  certificate  by  first  securing  a  county  certificate  in  the  county 
where  they  desire  to  teach  and  in  addition  passing  a  state  examination  upon 
all  branches  which  they  teach  and  which  are  not  included  in  the  county  cer¬ 
tificate.  Superintendents  must  all  possess  the  unlimited  state  certificate.  It 
will  be  thus  seen  that  the  entrance  to  teaching  in  the  high  schools  of  Wisconsin 
is  very  carefully  guarded.  The  rigid  provisions  have  raised  the  qualifications 
for  teaching  in  Wisconsin  very  materially. 

The  following  figures  show  the  qualifications  of  teachers  in  the  Wisconsin  high  schools 
for  1903  and  1904;  ^ 


Attended  the  Wisconsin  State  University . 94 

Attended  other  colleges . 45 

- 139 

Attended  a  normal  school . 71 

Hold  life  certificates .  3 

-  74 

Total . 213 


Table  showing  number  of  teachers  including  principals  in  the  four-year  free  high 
schools  with  highest  school  attended: 


Attended  the  Wisconsin  State  University . 229 

Attended  universities  and  colleges  outside  the  state  ....  85 

Attended  Beloit  College .  30 

Attended  Lawrence  University .  40 

Attended  Ripon  College .  13 

Attended  Milton  College .  3 

Attended  Wisconsin  normal  schools . 268 

Hold  licenses  and  certificates  of  approval  or  state  certificates  on  exam¬ 
ination . 13 1 

Total . 799 


*  Eleventh  Biennial  Report  of  the  Department  of  Public  Instruction,  1904,  p  85. 


6o8 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Concerning  qualifications  of  principals  of  three-year  high  schools  in  the  year  1903-4 : 


Attended  a  normal  school  and  hold  normal-school  diplomas  .  .  23 

Attended  a  normal  school  and  hold  elementary  certificates  .  .  3 

Hold  life  certificates .  5 

Holds  a  limited  state  certificate .  i 

Holds  a  university  diploma .  i 


Total . 33 

Projession'il  require )nents  for  high-school  certificates. — Statistics  concerning 
the  actual  amount  of  professional  training  of  teachers  are  even  more  diflhcult 
to  secure  than  those  concerning  academic  qualifications.  In  those  states 
where  no  differentiation  is  made  between  the  licenses  required  of  elementary 
teachers  and  high-school  teachers  there  is  little  incentive  to  gain  high-class 
certificates.  In  Iowa  the  third-grade  certificate  is  the  only  legal  requirement 
and  a  comparatively  small  number  apply  for  state  certificates.  The  main 
incentive  to  secure  the  state  certificate  is  the  fact  that  the  state  certificate  is 
valid  in  any  county  of  the  state.  Now  that  the  county  certificate  will  be  valid 
in  any  county  in  the  state  the  number  of  state  certificates  will  doubtless  be  still 
further  decreased.  It  is  also  desirable  in  many  states  when  teachers  move 
and  find  the  state  certificate  necessary  in  the  new  state. 

County  certificates  in  all  states  include  some  test  on  the  theory  and  art  of 
teaching,  or  didactics,  as  it  is  frequently  called.  But  most  county  examina¬ 
tions  in  the  theory  of  education  are  a  perfect  farce.  The  questions  seldom 
require  any  technical  knowledge  of  pedagogy.  Anyone  with  an  ounce  of  com¬ 
mon  sense  could  answer  them  correctly.  Most  frequently  when  books  are 
prescribed  in  the  reading  circle  or  by  the  superintendent  as  a  basis  for  the 
examination  some  general  book  like  Jean  MitchelVs  School  or  The  Evolution 
of  Dodd  's  selected.  While  these  are  good  enough  in  their  way  and  wmuld 
afford  a  few  hours  pleasant  reading  and  stimulate  the  better  emotions,  yet 
they  give  no  real  principles  upon  which  to  base  a  theory  of  education.  Even 
in  the  state  examinations  the  primer  of  the  subject  has  scarcely  been  touched. 
In  a  few  states  definite  syllabi  are  prepared  giving  an  outline  of  the  subjects, 
part'cular  books  to  be  read,  etc.  This  plan  gives  the  candidate  a  definite 
plan  of  work  and  sometimes  happily  convinces  them  that  the  surest  and 
soundest  method  of  preparing  is  to  go  to  some  good  institution  where  they 
can  receive  proper  training. 

Without  exception  all  states  include  some  professional  work  in  the  exami¬ 
nations  for  life  certificates.  A  few  (New  York,  for  example),  grant  pro¬ 
visional  or  temporary  state  certificates  to  college  graduates,  even  tho  they 
have  not  included  professional  work  in  their  course.  Thus  all  who  secure 
the  life  state  certificates  have  gained  some  insight  into  pedagogical  subjects. 
The  subjects  prescribed  vary  greatly,  tho  the  history  of  education  and  psy¬ 
chology  are  usually  included.  As  indicated  above,  the  amount  required  is 
very  meager.  Qualitatively  it  is  usually  antiquated. 

In  most  states  which  validate  college  diplomas  as  state  certificates  a  year’s 
daily  work  in  psychology  and  education  or  a  year  in  the  latter,  following  a  year 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


609 


in  the  formerj  is  required.  Even  in  those  states  the  professional  work  required 
when  the  certificate  is  gained  by  examination  is  very  meager.  It  is  in  no  way 
the  equivalent  of  the  work  done  in  the  year  or  more  in  college.  Any  college 
graduate  could  prepare  for  the  professional  examination  ordinarily  given 
thru  two  weeks’  continuous  careful  reading  of  some  elementary  texts.  This 
is  entirely  wrong  and  very  inconsistent.  The  examinations  in  other  subjects 
like  botany,  physics,  and  mathematics  are  put  upon  a  technical  basis  and 
generally  the  questions  are  modern  in  nature.  But  the  professional  examina¬ 
tions  are  decidedly  irritating  to  modern  teachers  of  those  subjects.  Even  an 
imperfect  knowledge  of  a  primer  of  the  history  of  education,  psychology,  and 
of  method  would  enable  the  candidate  to  pass. 

New  York  state  has  taken  an  advanced  stand  on  the  matter  of  professional 
training  and  prescribes  the  following  work  for  the  state  certificate:  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  graduation  from  college,  general  and  educational  psycholog}^,  ninety 
recitation  hoirrs;  history  and  principles  of  education,  ninety  hours;  methods 
in  teaching,  sixty  hours;  observation,  twenty  hours.  This  would  make  a 
total  of  about  seven  hours  a  week  for  a  year,  or  fourteen  semester  units.  As 
previously  mentioned,  graduates  may  receive  a  provisional  certificate  for  two 
years  if  they  have  not  had  the  professional  work,  but  before  it  can  be  made  a 
permanent  certificate  they  must  pass  an  examination  upon  the  professional 
work  indicated.  Those  who  secure  state  certificates  by  examination  are 
required  to  pass  a  rigid  examination  in  the  professional  subjects.  This 
examination  is  made  thoro  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  syllabus  issued  by  the 
state  department.  The  syllabus  contains  a  good  outline  of  all  the  subjects 
and  a  fine  list  of  references.  It  is  thoroly  technical  and  academic  in  character, 
and  it  sets  a  high  pace  for  all  other  states.  Several  universities  in  New  York, 
and  doubtless  several  colleges,  have  arranged  their  work  in  the  department 
of  education  to  correspond  with  the  state  requirements.  I  have  at  hand 
outlines  of  the  work  as  prescribed  at  Cornell,  Syracuse,  and  at  Columbia. 

All  who  receive  the  Teachers  College  diploma  at  Columbia  must  have 
completed  three  semester  units  of  psychology,  three  units  of  educational 
psychology,  three  units  in  the  history  and  principles  of  education,  and  three 
un’ts  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching  some  special  subject.  Those  who 
receive  a  degree  from  the  College  of  Education  in  Chicago  are  required  to  include 
for  graduation  eight  majors  in  education,  including  the  history  of  education, 
principles  of  education,  educational  psychology,  and  a  course  in  general 
psychology. 

The  University  of  Wisconsin,  whose  diplomas  are  recognized  as  state  cer¬ 
tificates,  provided  prerequisite  professional  work  has  been  included,  requires 
ten  semester  units — three  units  in  psychology,  three  units  in  either  the  history 
or  principles  of  education  or  advanced  educational  psychology,  and  four 
units  which  may  be  elected  from  either  the  department  of  philosophy  or  the 
department  of  education. 

The  state  of  Texas  recognizes  the, diploma  from  the  University  of  Texas, 


6io 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


provided  the  prerequisite  professional  training  has  been  included.  The  uni¬ 
versity  prescribes  as  the  professional  work  two  semester  units  of  school  man¬ 
agement,  four  units  in  the  methods  and  principles  of  teaching,  four  units  in  the 
psychology  of  education,  two  units  in  the  psychology  of  development,  and  six 
elective  hours  in  the  department  of  education. 

California  not  only  accredits  the  work  of  the  university  toward  the  state 
certificate,  but  will  not  grant  a  certificate  to  teachers  in  the  high  schools 
unless  the  candidate  is  a  graduate  of  the  university  of  California  or  an 
approved  equivalent  institution.  In  addition  to  the  work  required  for  the 
bachelor’s  degree  the  candidate  must  have  completed  at  least  one  year  of 
graduate  study  in  the  University  of  California,  or  an  approved  university. 
This  year  of  graduate  study  shall  include  one-half  year  of  advanced  academic 
study,  part  of  the  time  at  least  being  devoted  to  one  or  more  of  the 
subjects  taught  in  the  high  school,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  must 
be  spent  in  a  well-equipped  training  school  of  secondary  grade,  directed 
by  the  department  of  education  of  the  approved  university.  This  repre¬ 
sents  the  high-water  mark  of  requirements,  both  academic  and  pro¬ 
fessional,  for  teaching  in  the  high  schools  in  the  United  States.  The 
professional  work  required  by  the  department  of  education  in  the  University 
of  California  includes  three  semester  hours  of  the  history  of  education, 
three  hours  in  a  study  of  secondary  education,  two  hours  of  methods, 
and  four  hours  in  practice  teaching.  The  department  urges  the  study  of 
philosophy  and  psychology  as  prerequisites,  but  does  not  require  them. 

The  Teachers  College  of  the  University  of  Missouri,  whose  diplomas  are 
recognized  as  life  state  certificates,  requires  candidates  to  complete  three 
semester  hours  of  experimental  psychology,  and  twenty-four  hours  of  educa¬ 
tion.  The  work  in  education  must  include  three  hours  in  the  history  of 
education,  the  theory  of  teaching  three  hours,  and  from  three  to  nine  hours  of 
practice  teaching.  In  addition  to  the  psychology  and  education  require¬ 
ments,  each  candidate  must  complete  at  least  eighteen  semester  hours  in  each 
subject  in  which  the  special  certificate  is  sought.  This  gives  almost  ideal 
requirements  for  the  state  certificate  to  teach  in  high  schools. 

II.  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  COLLEGE  AS  TRAINING-SCHOOLS  FOR 

HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

Ever  since  secondary  schools  were  first  founded  the  university  and  the 
college  have  been  training-schools  which  have  furnished  the  majority  of  their 
teachers.  The  German  secondary  schools  have  always  been  manned  by  the 
best  products  of  the  German  universities  and  that  tells  the  story  of  Germany’s 
enviable  position  in  secondary  education.  Since  the  time  of  the  founding  of 
the  “great  public  schools”  in  England.  Oxford  and  Cambridge  have  furnished 
all  the  teachers  for  them.  Tho  they  have  not  had  the  professional  training  of 
Germany’s  matchless  schoolmasters,  yet  they  have  been  men  of  fine  culture  and 
broad  training.  In  America  Harvard  and  Yale  in  New  England  and  William 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


6ii 


and  Mary  in  the  South  at  once  began  to  place  their  graduates  in  the  “grammar 
schools,”  like  the  Boston  Public  Latin  School,  and  later  in  the  academies. 
The  influence  of  these  men  representing  the  best  culture  of  the  times  has  had 
a  marked  effect.  In  the  secondary  school  where  inspiration  and  outlook  are 
so  essential  to  the  life  of  the  school  the  breadth  of  view  which  comes  from 
college  life  is  indispensable.  It  is  lamentably  true  that  these  zealous  young 
men  and  more  recently  women  have  often  been  woefully  lacking  in  pedagogical 
insight,  but  their  scholarship  and  vital  touch  with  life  have  been  more  valuable 
than  the  mere  drillmaster’s  arts. 

With  the  advent  of  the  normal  school  in  1839  an  attempt  was  made  to 
correct  the  deficiency  in  the  pedagogical  training  of  teachers.  Naturally  the 
pendulum  svmng  a  long  way  in  the  other  direction  and  methods  and  devices 
became  a  fetish.  The  normal  schools  went  to  seed  on  methods.  Devices 
and  details  were  eagerly  pursued  when  principles  should  have  been  sought. 
The  drillmaster  became  the  ideal  class  teacher  and  the  machine  method- 
master  the  ideal  superintendent.  Normal-school  graduates  everyivhere  in 
the  eighties  and  nineties  began  to  teach  in  the  high  schools  and  to  occupy  the 
superintendencies.  When  I  was  graduated  from  a  Wisconsin  normal  school 
in  1890  graduates  did  not  think  of  looking  for  a  grade  position,  unless  they 
happened  to  live  in  a  large  city.  High-school  positions  and  good  principal- 
ships  and  superintendencies  were  readily  secured  by  the  men.  Similar  con¬ 
ditions  obtained  in  all  adjoining  states.  At  the  present  time  conditions  are 
so  changed  that  it  is  only  in  exceptional  cases  that  the  graduate  of  a  normal 
school  begins  in  a  high  school.  Occasionally  they  begin  in  a  small  high  school 
which  does  two  or  three  years  of  high-school  work.  But  usually  the  normal 
graduate  commences  in  the  grades  or  goes  to  some  university  to  complete  work 
for  graduation.  This  makes  quite  an  ideal  course  of  training,  for  at  the  normal 
schools  they  become  imbued  with  the  teaching  spirit  and  their  university 
work  gives  them  a  scholastic  baptism.  Happily  a  new  era  has  dawned  in 
normal  schools  with  reference  to  methods.  They  have  been  touched  by  the 
new  spirit  in  psychology  and  child-study  and  are  now,  in  general,  seeking 
principles  instead  of  devices. 

The  normal  school,  generally  speaking,  is  not  fitted  to  train  high-school 
teachers.  There  are,  of  course,  some  schools  which  are  much  better  equipped 
than  others.  There  are  some  large  and  aspiring  ones  which  are  lengthening 
their  courses,  providing  laboratory  and  library  facilities  to  such  an  extent  that 
they  are  better  able  to  accomplish  this  work  than  the  one-horse  colleges,  but 
the  organization  of  a  normal  school  must  ever  be  such  as  to  limit  its  function 
to  the  training  of  elementary  teachers.  Just  as  soon  as  it  transcends  this 
function  it  ceases  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  effective  in  training  elementary 
teachers,  for  which  they  have  all  been  designed.  It  then  becomes  an  addi¬ 
tional  state  college  or  university,  a  duplication  which  most  states  do  not  desire. 

The  high-school  teacher  needs,  above  all,  a  broad  outlook  upon  life,  deep 
and  thoro  scholarship,  and  liberality  of  attitude  which  is  best  promoted  by  the 


6I2 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


university  atmosphere.  The  normal  school,  with  its  ten-weeks’  courses  and 
ceaseless  flitting  about,  its  many  exercises  per  day,  the  constant  emphasis 
upon  method  rather  than  content,  the  excessive  attention  to  the  little  details 
such  as  are  largely  necessary  in  training  the  immature  and  those  who  are  to 
deal  with  details  of  elementary  work,  all  militate  against  sound  scholarship 
and  liberality  of  mind.  Most  normal  schools  are  so  organized  that  students 
are  admitted  from  the  country  school.  These  students  are  in  constant  con¬ 
tact  with  the  most  advanced.  This  necessitates  leveling  down  to  the  plane 
of  the  most  immature. 

The  only  place  where  the  science  of  education  can  be  adequately  taught 
is  in  the  university  or  in  the  few  colleges.  The  institution  must  be  equipped 
with  a  department  devoted  solely  to  education.  No  man  straddling  the  chairs 
of  philosophy,  psychology,  logic,  ethics,  and  education  can  even  have  come  to 
an  independent  educational  philosophy,  much  less  develop  it  in  others.  One 
burdened  with  several  chairs  and  all  the  subjects  within  each  may  have  students 
recite  from  textbooks  but  it  is  lame  teaching.  The  work  in  education  cannot 
even  be  done  well  where  one  man  is  required  to  cover  all  subjects  within  the 
department. 

President  G.  Stanley  Hall  says: 

I  think  preparation  of  secondary  teachers  should  never  be  permitted  in  a  normal 
school  where  primary  teachers  are  trained,  but  should  be  entirely  given  over  to  the  univer¬ 
sity.  This  is  essentially  the  case  in  Germany . I  think  there  is  very  little  in  common 

either  in  methods  or  matter  in  the  curriculum  proper  for  these  classes  of  teachers.  ^ 

Professor  DeGarmo  says: 

The  most  obvious  distinction  between  the  normal  school  and  the  university  as  a  train¬ 
ing  ground  for  secondary  teachers  is  that  the  normal  school  is  obliged  by  its  conditions, 
its  primary  aims,  and  its  traditions,  to  devote  its  chief  energies  to  the  preparation  of  ele¬ 
mentary  teachers.  Only  in  a  large  and  general  way  can  it  devote  more  than  a  fraction  of 
its  attention  to  the  training  of  teachers  for  secondary  schools.^ 

These  differences  he  regards  as  so  fundamentally  opposed  in  nature  that 
any  attempt  to  unite  the  two  will  result  in  the  decreased  efficiency  of  the 
normal  school. 

President  Van  Liew,  who  speaks  on  the  question  after  much  experience 
as  a  normal-school  man  and  who  is  a  scholar  of  distinction,  says: 

The  weakness  of  the  normal  schools,  especially  in  the  matter  of  training  secondary 
teachers,  lies  in  its  inability  to  supply  large  general  culture.  So  far  as  secondary  teachers 
are  concerned,  at  least,  it  ought  not  to  try  it.  3 

Charles  B.  Gilbert  wrote: 

The  ideal  place  for  the  training  of  secondary  teachers  is  a  teachers’  college  of  some 
sort  attached  to  a  university  as  a  co-ordinate  part,  utilizing  all  the  scholarly  advantages 
of  the  university  and  adding  the  special  training  needed  to  make  teachers.4 

President  Thompson  of  Ohio  State  University,  in  discussing  the  great 
need  of  developing  teachers’  colleges  in  connection  with  the  universities,  said: 


*  Fourth  Yearbook,  I,  p.  84. 
®  Ibid.,  p.  89. 


3  Ibid.,  p.  92. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  102. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


613 


I  think  it  goes  without  discussion  that  for  the  cause  of  education  the  teachers  in  our 
high  schools  should  have  the  university  spirit  and  that  they  ought  to  have  college  training. 
This  argument  is  based  not  so  much  upon  the  particular  subject  studied  as  upon  the  superior 
value  of  association  with  university  faculties  and  university  methods.  Our  high  schools 
have  suffered  for  lack  of  such  teachers  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  hand  they  have 
suffered  from  having  too  many  teachers  whose  normal-school  training  or  other  education 
has  not  been  with  a  view  to  training  them  for  high-school  work.  It  would  seem,  therefore, 
that  in  some  form  the  teachers’  college  ought  to  be  a  part  of  the  university  organization.  ^ 

In  the  same  meeting  President  Babcock  of  Arizona,  who  has  also  had  long 
experience  with  the  Minnesota  and -California  systems,  said: 

If  the  normal  schools  are  going  to  train  their  students  for  grade- work  frankly,  honestly, 
without  any  pretensions  or  conceit,  those  who  desire  to  go  on  for  high-school  work  must 
go  to  the  university,  to  the  colleges  or  teachers’  colleges,  which  provide  that  sort  of  training.  2 

My  own  belief  in  the  necessity  of  university  training  for  high-school  teach¬ 
ing  was  definitely  developed  before  I  became  a  member  of  a  university  faculty. 
Immediately  upon  graduation  from  one  of  the  best  normal  schools  in  the 
country  I  became  a  h  gh-school  principal.  I  soon  came  to  the  belief,  and 
many  times  expressed  it,  that  normal-training  was  insufficient  preparation- 
for  such  work.  At  the  earliest  possible  moment  I  supplemented  my  training 
by  a  university  course  before  re-entering  the  public-school  service.  Later  I 
was  for  two  years  a  member  of  the  faculty  in  the  same  normal  school.  I 
believe  my  colleagues  there  will  bear  witness  that  I  continually  urged  that 
our  graduates  ought  to  complete  a  university  course  before  beginning  high- 
school  work.  That  the  function  of  the  university  and  the  normal  school  must 
be  different,  I  believed  then  as  firmly  as  I  do  now.3 

The  experience  of  the  New  York  State  Normal  College  ought  to  be  valuable 
in  determining  the  suitability  of  the  normal  school  or  the  college  in  preparing 
high-school  teachers.  The  Normal  College  was  granted  a  charter  in  1890 
empowering  it  to  confer  degrees  in  pedagogy,  hoping  thereby  to  attract  college 
and  university  graduates  who  would  spend  at  least  a  year  in  post-graduate  study 
along  strictly  professional  lines.  Those  expectations  have  not  been  realized. 
During  one  year  forty  such  students  were  in  residence,  but  the  number  has 
declined  because  pedagogical  courses  in  the  meantime  have  been  developed 
in  colleges  and  universities. 

It  was  thought,  too,  at  the  time  when  the  Normal  College  was  chartered  that  the 
graduates  from  the  classical  courses  offered  at  the  Normal  College  would  find  positions 
in  the  high  schools,  but  the  demand  for  teachers  of  more  liberal  culture  has  increased  so 
much  since  1899,  that  probably  not  more  than  one-half  of  the  graduates  have  found  employ¬ 
ment  in  the  secondary  schools  of  the  state.  Consequently,  the  Normal  College  has  not 
been  able  to  meet  the  expectations  or  the  demands  of  the  state  for  college-bred  teachers 
who  have  a  proper  knowledge  of  the  science  of  education  and  the  principles  of  pedagogy. 

.  .  .  .  The  belief  of  educators,  philosophers,  and  educated  people  alike  has 

crystallized  into  the  conviction  that  teachers  who  are  to  be  employed  in  the  high  school, 
normal  schools,  for  teachers’  training-classes,  for  teachers,  and  as  instructors  in  manual 

*  Trans,  and  Proc.  Nat.  Assoc,  of  State  Universities,  1904,  p.  43. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  64. 

3  My  views  of  that  time  may  be  seen  in  an  article  in  Education,  May  and  June,  1898. 


6i4 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


training,  domestic  science,  art,  and  other  special  subjects  should  be  college  graduates  with 
a  thoro  knowledge  of  the  general  principles  of  pedagogy  and  the  most  advanced  and 
most  valuable  methods  of  teaching  their  specialties.  ^ 

The  report  points  out  that  the  normal  schools  are  not  equipped  for  pre¬ 
paring  teachers  for  the  high  schools.  In  consequence  all  of  the  elementary 
work  at  the  State  Normal  School  has  been  abolished,  the  requirements 
for  admission  made  equal  to  those  maintained  in  eastern  colleges,  and  a 
four-years’  course  of  study  in  the  liberal  arts  and  in  pedagogics  has  been 
established. 

Tho  there  are  many  splendid  teachers  in  our  best  high  schools  and  a  few 
in  the  smaller  schools,  yet  the  fact  remains  that  our  boys  and  girls  in  the  most 
critical  period  of  their  lives  are  in  control  of  immature,  inexperienced  young¬ 
sters.  Some  of  these  youths  have  large  native  ability,  and  special  potential 
teaching  qualities,  and  ultimately  become  good  teachers.  Some  have  good 
academic  training  also  and  after  expensive  experimenting  upon  the  children 
become  first-class  teachers.  Their  enthusiasm,  vigor,  cheerfulness,  and 
general  culture  are  all  qualities  that  we  ought  to  retain,  but  the  fact  remains 
that  our  optimism  regarding  secondary-school  teaching  must  come  from 
viewing  the  select  few  rather  than  from  conditions  as  a  whole. 

The  greatest  defect  in  our  American  schools  is  the  lack  of  uniformity  of 
requirements  for  teaching.  Under  our  ultra-democratic  notions  some  prop¬ 
erly  fitted  teachers  enter  the  work,  but  they  are  obliged  to  come  into  compe¬ 
tition  with  a  majority  who  are  unprepared.  Frequently  because  of  ignorance 
on' the  part  of  boards  and  often  because  of  nepotism  the  incompetent  cheap 
teachers  drive  the  worthier  ones  out  of  the  market  or  force  them  down  to  the 
lower  level  of  salaries.  The  inadequate  compensation  is  the  great  deterrent 
which  keeps  thousands  of  the  most  promising  from  ever  entering  into  the 
undesirable  competition. 

We  are  greatly  in  need  of  legislation  in  all  states  which  will  permit  only 
the  absolutely  well-trained  to  enter  the  ranks.  The  cry  frequently  raised 
against  such  legislation  that  the  schools  would  be  without  teachers  is  sheer 
nonsense.  When  our  colleges  and  universities  can  find  such  abundant  sup¬ 
plies  of  doctors  of  philosophy  for  every  subordinate  instructorship  there  need 
be  no  difficulty  in  securing  all  the  adequately  prepared  teachers  necessary, 
if  liv'ng  salaries  are  offered.  Legislation  eliminating  the  unfit  would  raise 
the  salaries.  In  all  those  states  having  laws  requiring  teachers  to  possess 
high-grade  certificates  the  salaries  are  demonstrably  above  the  average  paid 
in  those  states  without  such  protective  legislation. 

Although  the  statutory  provisions  are  very  insufficient  in  requiring  ade¬ 
quate  preparation  for  teaching  in  the  high  schools,  yet  many  cities  have  made 
regulations  which  require  all  to  be  college  graduates.  In  Ft.  Dodge,  Iowa, 
for  example,  all  are  required  to  be  college  graduates  and  to  have  had  two 
years’  experience.  There  are  hundreds  of  cities  large  and  small  where  either 


*  An.  Rep.  Ed.  Dept.,  p.  274. 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


6^ 

definite  legislation  to  this  effect  has  been  enacted  or  else  the  practice  has 
become  local  common  law. 

The  North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schoo’s  has  had 
a  very  marked  effect  in  raising  standards  of  teaching  in  the  high  schools.  No 
school  can  become  accredited  unless  all  the  teachers  are  col’ege  graduates 
or  the  equivalent  One  high-school  inspector  wrote  me  : 

We  have  about  fifty  high  schools  on  the  north  central  list  and  many  more  are  trying 
for  admission.  This  requirement  has  been  most  wholesome  in  its  effect  on  our  schools, 
and  has  done  more  than  any  other  one  provision  in  our  recent  educational  history.  Of 
course  there  has  been  a  gradual  increase  in  the  number  of  college  graduates  occupying 
high-school  positions,  but  it  has  simply  been  the  law  of  evolution,  a  sort  of  triumph  of  the 
fittest.  The  normal  school  ....  has  in  the  past  filled  a  good  many  positions,  and 
many  of  the  school  authorities  have  been  unable  to  distinguish  between  them  and  graduates 
of  other  institutions.  The  influence  of  the  North  Central  Association,  the  increased  effici¬ 
ency  of  our  denominational  colleges  and  the  gradual  increase  of  salaries  have  all  contrived 
to  drive  them  (the  normal-school  graduates)  out  of  the  field  of  the  best  schools  except  in  a 
few  isolated  cases. 

III.  STANDARDS  IN  GERMANY 

The  training  required  of  the  German  secondary-school  teacher  is  much 
more  ideal  than  that  demanded  of  teachers  in  the  same  kind  of  schoolwork  in 
the  United  States.  In  Germany  advanced,  critical,  academic,  and  professional 
scholarship  are  absolute  prerequisites  to  teaching  in  the  secondary  schools. 
No  deviations  are  allowed.  No  mere  pull  with  the  board  will  suffice,  for  the 
matter  does  not  rest  with  the  local  board,  but  with  the  state  authorities. 

In  Germany  all  secondary-school  teachers  are  university  trained,  as  they 
ought  to  be  everywhere.  The  candidates  for  a  position  in  the  secondary 
schools  must  have  had  at  least  three  years  of  university  study  before  being  ad¬ 
mitted  to  the  examination  for  the  state  certificate,  which  all  must  possess.  This 
means  a  high  grade  of  academic  scholarsh’p  since  university  entrance  is  con¬ 
ditioned  upon  graduation  from  the  secondary  schools,  which  is  fully  equiva¬ 
lent  to  the  completion  of  the  sophomore  year  in  our  very  best  colleges.  There¬ 
fore  everyv  teacher  in  the  German  secondary  schools  has  done  work  equivalent 
to  that  required  for  our  masters’  degree.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  majority  of 
German  secondary-school  teachers  have  studied  more  than  three  years  in  a 
university.  The  majority  are  possessors  of  the  doctorate  degree  which  cannot 
be  secured  with  less  than  three  years  of  un’.versity  work  and  usually  requires 
four  or  five.  Each  teacher  is  required  to  present  a  major  line  of  work  and  a 
minor.  The  examination  in  the  minor  must  reveal  complete  comprehension 
and  mastery  of  the  subject  far  beyond  any  limits  to  which  it  is  taught  in  the 
secondary  school.  Even  with  this  preparation  they  are  not  permitted  to  give 
instruction  in  that  branch  in  the  advanced  classes  of  the  school.  In  the 
major  subject  not  only  thoro  mastery  is  required  but  there  must  be  evidence 
of  critical  and  exhaustive  research  to  the  extent  of  becoming  not  only  a  master 
but  an  authority.  A  thesis  in  the  major  must  reveal  independence  of  method, 
acquaintance  with  the  history  and  literature  of  the  subject.  The  thesis  and 


6i6 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


the  examination  are  intended  to  test  the  candidates’  knowledge  of  its  philo¬ 
sophic  aspects.  In  a  genera'  way  we  may  say  that  the  academic  training  of 
the  German  secondary-school  teacher  is  quite  on  a  par  w  th  the  attainments 
of  instructors  in  our  best  colleges,  and  the  majority  are  comparable  with  well- 
seasoned  professors.  Promotions  are  so  slow  there  that  the  majority  are 
about  th  rty  years  of  age  before  securing  permanent  positions. 

Knowledge  of  subject-matter,  however,  is  happily  deemed  insufficient  for 
any  German  teacher.  All  teachers  in  the  secondary  schools  are  required  to 
include  -psychology,  philosophy,  and  theoretical  pedagogy  in  the  state  exami¬ 
nation.  In  addition,  they  must  take  a  two-years’  course  of  professional 
training.  This  can  be  begun  only  after  passing  the  state  exam  nation. 

IV.  STANDARDS  SUGGESTED  FOR  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS 

I.  As  minimum  requirements  it  seems  fair  to  ask  that  all  teachers  who 
enter  high-school  work  should  have  had  at  least  the  equivalent  of  a  college 
education.  To  accept  less  is  to  place  the  schools  in  charge  of  immature, 
unscholarly  boys  and  girls  and  undeserving  place-hunters.  The  high  schools 
are  the  people’s  colleges  and  should  ever  remain  centers  of  liberal  culture. 
That  they  can  never  be  when  in  charge  of  teachers  wffio  have  never  learned  to 
love  scholarship.  I  am  of  the  ffi*m  belief  that  only  in  exceptional  instances 
should  teachers  be  permitted  to  teach  in  our  high  schools  who  have  not  actually 
studied  in  a  standard  higher  institution.  Those  who  preferred  to  acquire 
certificates  thru  examination  only  should  be  required  to  pass  most  search  ng 
exam  nations.  What  if  an  occasional  deserv  ng  individual  were  thus  debarred  ? 
In  most  states  the  right  to  practice  med’cine  is  w  thheld  from  all  except  those 
who  have  studied  in  a  reputable  medical  college.  No  mere  private  study  and 
cramming  for  the  examinations  will  suffice.  The  right  to  enter  the  examination, 
as  in  Germany,  is  conditioned  by  previous  study  for  a  term  of  years  i  a  repu¬ 
table  institution.  The  theory  is — and  perfectly  sound — that  no  one  can  ga’n 
adequate  knowledge  of  modern  methods  of  medicine  without  coming  directly 
in  contact  with  properly  equipped  laboratories  and  skilled  teachers.  Thru 
private  study  of  books  the  diligent  might  accomplish  much,  but  the  r’sks  to 
society  are  too  great  to  admit  of  trifling.  Hence  the  necessity  of  measures 
which  will  protect  society.  Many  states  have  similar  protective  legislation  in 
the  profession  of  law. 

Are  the  needs  not  as  great  in  teaching?  The  results  of  mistakes  are  not 
always  so  immediately  apparent  to  the  public  in  education  as  in  medicine, 
but  to  the  specialist  in  education  they  cannot  be  hidden.  Why  intrust  the 
most  precious  possessions  of  the  human  race  to  the  ruthless  hands  of  ignorant 
beginners  and  confirmed  quacks  and  charlatans  ?  Every  poor  teacher  helps 
to  spoil  scores  of  children  every  year,  while  the  quack  doctor  of  medicine 
occasionally  harms  an  indiv  dual.  The  malpractice  of  the  inexpert  teacher 
is  tenfold  more  harmful  to  society  than  that  of  the  quack  doctor.  The  teacher 
guilty  of  malpractice  dwarfs,  and  distorts,  poisons  the  mind  and  body  of  the 


Department] 


PREPARATION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


617 


budding,  developing  child,  while  the  quack  doctor  merely  fails  to  cure  bodily 
disease.  The  quack  teacher  sows  the  seeds  of  disease,  the  quack  doctor 
simply  fails  to  cure. 

2.  From  the  professional  side  the  minimum  requirements  should  be  at 
least  one  full  year  of  daily  work  in  education  subsequent  to  a  half-year  of 
work  in  psychology.  It  would  be  still  better,  and  not  excessive,  to  demand 
that  one-sixth  of  the  college  course  should  be  given  to  educational  and  philo¬ 
sophical  subjects.  This  should  be  so  distributed  as  to  give  about  one-half 
year  daily  to  general  psychology,  a  full  year  daily  to  the  principles  of  educa¬ 
tion  and  child-study,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  to  the  history  of  education, 
methods,  school  systems,  etc.  If  one-fourth  of  the  120  units  of  the  college 
course  could  be  professional,  the  following  arrangement  would  be  desirable; 
psychology,  6  semester  hours;  principles  of  education,  6;  child-study,  2; 
methods,-  4;  h'story  of  education,  4;  secondary  education,  4;  observation 
and  practice,  4. 

The  Germans  are  wise  in  requiring  actual  residential  study  in  a  university 
as  a  prerequisite  to  teaching  in  the  secondary  schools.  (Normal-school  study 
is  required  of  all  who  teach  in  the  elementary  schools.)  It  ’s  practica  ly 
impossible  for  one  to  gain  modern  ideas  of  scholarship  without  institutional 
training.  Even  if  possible,  other  methods  are  too  uncertain  and  expensive. 
Private  study  may  give  one  certain  book  facts  but  nothing  can  be  substituted 
for  the  laboratory  methods  of  the  modern  institution.  The  teacher  who  is  to 
teach  classes  by  modern  laboratory  methods  must  first  have  been  thru  the 
laboratory  work  himself.  The  teacher  who  is  to  teach  literary  and  historical 
subjects  must  know  what  libraries  contain  and  how  to  utilize  them.  This  can 
only  be  secured  thru  contact  with  them.  It  is  preposterous  to  think  that  men 
may  be  intrusted  to  equip  laboratories  and  libraries  when  they  know  nothing 
of  them.  Yet  such  things  are  permitted  and  encouraged  by  our  inadequate 
protective  legislation. 

The  Honorable  J.  Sterling  Morton  eloquently  emphasized  the  importance 
of  professional  training  for  teachers  when  he  said: 

We  demand  for  Nebraska  educated  educators.  We  demand  professionally  trained 
teachers,  men  and  women  of  irreproachable  character  and  well-tested  abilities.  We 
demand  from  our  legislature  laws  raising  the  standard  of  the  profession  and  exalting  the 
office  of  the  teacher.  As  the  doctor  of  medicine  or  the  practitioner  of  law  is  only  admitted 
within  the  pale  of  his  calling  upon  the  production  of  his  parchment  or  certificate,  so  the 
applicant  for  the  position  of  instructor  in  our  primary  and  other  schools  should  be  required 
by  law  to  first  produce  his  diploma,  his  authority  to  teach,  from  the  normal  schools. 

We  call  no  uneducated  quack  or  charlatan  to  perform  surgery  upon  the  bodies  of  our 
children  lest  they  may  be  deformed,  crippled,  or  maimed  physically  all  their  lives.  Let 
us  take  equal  care  that  we  intrust  the  development  of  the  mental  faculties  to  skilled  instruc¬ 
tors  of  magnanimous  character,  that  the  mentalities  of  our  children  may  not  be  mutilated, 
deformed  and  crippled  to  halt  and  limp  through  all  the  centuries  of  their  never-ending 
lives.  The  deformed  body  will  die,  and  be  forever  put  out  of  sight  under  the  ground,  but 
a  mind  made  monstrous  by  bad  teaching  dies  not,  but  stalks  forever  among  the  ages,  an 
immortal  mockery  of  the  divine  image. 


6i8 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondaxy 


XIII  {special) . 

THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  SECONDARY 
TEACHERS  IN  THE  FIFTEEN  SOUTHERN  STATES^ 

EDWARD  FRANKLIN  BUCHNER,  PROFESSOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY  AND  EDUCATION, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ALAB.AJIA 

This  report  attempts  to  sketch  the  conditions  relating  to  the  preparation 
of  secondary  teachers  prevailing  n  the  southern  states  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  based  upon  information  gathered  by  a  circular  letter  of  inquiry  distributed 
in  April,  1906.  School  ofiScials,  -  ncluding  state  superintendents  of  education, 
presidents  of  state  universities,  principals  of  (state)  normal  schools,  and  super¬ 
intendents  of  public  schools  in  the  larger  and  more  representative  cities  stated 
such  requirements  as  were  in  actual  force  and  described  such  customs  as  were 
practiced  in  the  matter  of  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  high  schools.  The 
states  of  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Florida,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  iSIary- 
land,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
Texas,  Virginia,  and  West  Virginia,  and  the  city  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  were 
about  equally  represented  among  the  replies  sent  in.  Extensive  information, 
furnished  by  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  based  upon  returns 
to  his  office  two  and  more  years  ago,  has  also  been  used  in  the  preparation  of 
this  report. 

The  interest  'n  this  inquiry  concerning  the  requirements  and  customs 
pertaining  to  the  preparation  of  secondary  teachers  centered  around  the  four 
points  mentioned  in  the  letters  of  inquiry. 

1.  AVhat  scholastic  preparation  and  what  pedagogical  training  are  required 
of  high-school  teachers  in  your  state  or  city  ? 

2.  What  courses  of  academic  instruction,  especially  for  high-school  teachers, 
are  given  in  your  institution  ? 

3.  What  courses  of  pedagogical  instruction  for  high-school  teachers  are 
given  in  your  institution  ? 

4.  Can  high-school  teachers  in  your  state,  city,  or  institution  get  actual 
practice  previous  to  regular  employment  ? 

These  four  quesfons  can  well  serve  us  as  guides  in  telling  the  story  of  the 
preparation  of  high-school  teachers  in  the  South  as  practiced  today.  The 
exact  statements  in  the  replies  are  used  as  far  as  possible  in  the  hope  of  making 
the  report  more  historic  than  it  would  be  if  it  presented  only  a  general  summary 
of  present  tendencies. 

THE  REQUIREMENT  OF  SCHOLARSHIP  AND  TRAINING 

Alabama:  In  this,  as  in  most  other  southern  states,  the  high  school  is  a  non-legal 
institution.  It  is  not  named  in  the  educational  laws  of  the  state.  The  first-grade  teacher’s 
certificate  specifies  by  law,  among  other  subjects,  three  high-school  subjects;  algebra, 

*  Legislative  enactments  relative  to  high  schools  made  in  some  states  during  the  interval  between  the 
preparation  and  the  publication  of  this  report  render  some  of  its  statements  purely  historical.  The 
immediate  design  of  the  work  of  the  committee  would  be  seriously  modified  if  the  attempt  were  made 
to  incorporate  these  laws  into  this  sur^’ey  of  existing  conditions. 


Department]  SECONDARY  TEACHERS  IN  SOUTHERN  STATES 


619 


geometry,  and  physics.  But  any  teacher  holding  the  lowest  (third)  grade  certificate  may 
legally  teach  in  any  high  school  in  the  state.  Such  specific  requirements  as  exist  are 
determined  hy  the  city  systems  acting  under  their  own  educational  charters.  While 
Birmingham  reserves  the  right  to  examine  all  applicants  for  high-school  positions,  it  also 
has  a  general  rule  which  requires  applicants  to  be  college  graduates.  In  Mobile  the  teacher 
must  be  a  graduate  of  a  college  or  university  “of  good  standing,”  or  pass  an  examination 
on  algebra,  geometry,  trigonometry,  Latin,  general  history,  Alabama  history,  English  and 
American  literature,  rhetoric,  physics,  physiology,  and  pedagogy.  In  Montgomery  the 
teacher  to  be  eligible  for  appointment  must  hold  a  high-school  certificate,  which  requires 
an  examination  in  algebra,  arithmetic,  geometry,  higher  English,  Latin,  physiology,  and 
theory  and  practice  of  teaching. 

Arkansas:  There  is  no  legal  specification  as  to  what  examinations  secondary  teachers 
shall  be  required  to  stand,  either  academic  or  pedagogic.  The  custom  relative  to  these 
requirements  may  be  exhibited  by  the  practice  of  three  cities.  Hot  Springs  requires  the 
teacher  to  “be  a  Bachelor  of  Arts  or  a  Master  of  Arts  from  our  best  colleges  or  universities 
with  successful  teaching  experience;”  Little  Rock  mentions  “college  education — successful 
experience  or  normal-school  training;”  while  in  Pine  Bluff  the  teacher  “must  be  a  graduate 
of  a  standard  high  school,  normal  school,  college,  or  university,  possess  a  knowledge  of 
at  least  three  standard  works  on  pedagogy,  and  experience  during  one  session  as  substitute 
worker.” 

Florida:  The  law  specifies  requirements  of  principals  of  high  schools  in  terms  of 
the  first-grade  certificate.  This  is  issued  to  teachers  of  some  experience  (at  least  two  years) 
who  pass  examinations  in  geometry,  trigonometry,  botany,  zoology,  physics,  rhetoric, 
literature,  general  history,  Caesar  and  Vergil  (two  books  each),  and  psychology.  Only  one 
city  reports  attempts  on  its  part  to  get  college  graduates  as  its  high-school  teachers. 

Georgia:  There  is  no  legal  requirement  beyond  the  customary  certificate  necessary 
for  teachers  in  state-aided  schools.  Augusta  requires  that  the  teachers  “should  be  gradu¬ 
ates  of  a  reputable  college  and  a  .specialist  in  the  department.”  Columbus  requires 
“specialized  university  training  for  departmental  work;”  while  Macon  simply  specifies  a 
“diploma  from  a  first-class  college  or  university.” 

Kentucky:  Kentucky  has  made  no  legal  provision  for,  and  neither  supports  nor 
controls  high  schools.  The  requirements  in  practice  vary  with  the  cities  employing 
teachers.  “Some  accept  state  certificates,  state  diplomas,  or  degrees  from  colleges. 
Others  hold  special  examinations.”  “An  A.B.  degree  and  three  years’  experience  or  a 
nine-months’  course  of  pedagogical  training  is  required.  The  degree  must  be  from  an 
accredited  college,  or  recognized  by  the  Regents’  Board  of  Examiners  of  New  York” 
(Covington).  In  recent  years  “a  college  degree  is  required  of  all  high-school  teachers 
in  Louisville  not  in  the  manual  department.  No  definite  pedagogical  training  is  required. 
Heads  of  departments  must  have  had  previous  successful  experience.  Untrained  assistants 
are  frequently  employed.”  Paducah  requires  only  the  “equivalent  of  a  four- years’  uni¬ 
versity  course.” 

Louisiana:  “There  is  no  provision  in  the  school  law  regarding  the  qualifications  of 
high-school  teachers  as  distinguished  from  other  teachers;  but  high-school  teachers  are 
usually  either  college  graduates,  graduates  of  the  state  normal  school,  or  holders  of  the 
first-grade  teachers’  certificates.  The  examination  for  this  certificate  covers  a  high- 
school  course  of  study  with  some  pedagogical  subjects  added.”  Another  report  on  the 
prevailing  custom  says,  “usually  a  normal-school  graduate,  often  a  college  graduate  is 
chosen.”  “They  are  required  to  be  college  graduates,  or  the  equivalent,  and  to  pursue 
professional  study  during  the  summer”  (Baton  Rouge).  “Applicants  for  positions  in  our 
high  schools  are  •required  to  pass  an  academic  examination,  and  to  have  had  three  years’ 
teaching  experience  or  a  certificate  from  a  normal  training-school”  (New  Orleans). 
The  high-school  faculty  of  Shreveport  is  composed  “of  college  and  university  graduates 
with  years  of  practical  experience.” 


620 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Maryland:  “Most  of  our  high-school  teachers  are  college  graduates;  the  equivalent 
is  pretty  generally  demanded.  Not  much  pedagogical  training  is  expected — rarely  any.” 
Baltimore  states  its  requirements  thus:  “  Fitness  for  appointment  to  teach  in  the  high  schools 
shall  be  determined  by  careful  scrutiny  of  such  diplomas  or  certificates  of  graduation  as 
may  be  issued  by  colleges  of  good  repute,  or  by  an  examination,  oral  or  written,  disclosing 
equivalent  qualifications  in  the  subject  or  subjects  which  the  candidate  proposes  to  teach^ 
Proof  of  success  in  the  actual  work  of  teaching  as  well  as  the  possession  of  the  requisite 
knowledge  will  be  considered.” 

Mississippi:  Beyond  the  usual  certificates,  the  state  has  no  regulations.  Columbus 
requires  “a  first-grade  teacher’s  license  on  the  state-required  studies,  and  at  least  one  year’s 
experience.”  “  Greenville  requires  that  high-school  teachers  must  have  at  least  four  years’  ^ 
training  in  a  university  or  approved  college.” 

Missouri:  This  is  the  only  southern  state  in  which  the  development  of  the  high 
school  has  reached  such  a  stage  as  to  be  made  interesting  by  the  acute  opposition  between 
the  state  department  of  education  and  the  highest  educational  agency  in  the  state  for  the 
training  of  teachers.  The  state  on  its  part  regards  the  public  high  school  “as  thoroly  a 
part  of  the  public-school  system,”  but  it  makes  “no  specific  provision  by  law  for  the  train¬ 
ing  of  high-school  teachers.”  It  “is  unalterably  opposed  to  creating  an  institution  for  the 
special  purpose  of  preparing  high-school  teachers.”  High-school  teachers  must  hold  a 
first-grade  county  certificate,  a  state  certificate,  or  a  normal-school  certificate — but  this 
is  not  specified  by  law  so  as  to  distinguish  them  from  elementary  teachers. 

“  From  now  on  high-school  teachers  who  have  charge  of  departments  must  be  college 
graduates.  Np  requirement  has  yet  been  formulated  in  regard  to  their  pedagogical  train¬ 
ing.  Practically  we  employ  no  one  without  experience”  (Carthage).  In  Hannibal  “a 
college,  university,  or  normal-school  training”  is  required.  St.  Joseph  mentions  a  prepa¬ 
ration  of  a  “  grade  of  a  reputable  college,  with  specialization  on  line  taught,”  while  St. 
Louis  seeks  “usually  a  suitable  university  degree  and  evidences  of  successful  experience.” 

"North  Carolina:  Beyond  the  certificate  issued  by  the  county  superintendent  upon 
examination,  no  special  preparation  is  required  by  law.  Asheville  has  instituted  “the 
high-school  class”  of  teachers,  which  shall  comprise  “graduates  of  an  approved  university 
or  normal  college,  with  three  or  more  years  of  successful  experience  in  a  city  graded  system 
of  known  efficiency,”  and  teachers  who  “have  taught  seven  years  in  the  Asheville  schools 
or  its  equivalent  in  a  good  city  school  system  elsewhere  and  present  evidences  of  systematic 
work  and  study  under  the  direction  of  some  person  or  institution  of  accredited  worth.” 
“All  our  high-school  teachers  are  graduates  of  reputable  colleges.  We  do  not  require 
pedagogical  training,  but  encourage  it  in  our  selection  of  teachers”  (Durham).  Raleigh 
has  no  rule  in  this  matter  to  guide  in  the  selection  of  teachers;  but  “all  are  elected  because 
of  some  particular  qualifications  for  the  work  to  be  done.” 

South  Carolina  has  been  working  on  a  legislative  bill  for  the  organization  and  aid 
of  high  schools.  The  provisions  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  proposed  therein  hardly 
belong  to  this  report  of  present  conditions.  Columbia  represents  the  situation  thus: 
“No  regular  standard  has  been  established,  but  we  always  get  the  very  best  teachers 
we  can  secure  for  the  salary  paid.”  Another  city  laconically  notes  the  single  fact  that 
“greater  care  is  exercised  in  selecting  high-school  teachers”  than  the  teachers  for  lower 
grades. 

Tennessee:  The  law  regulating  the  certification  of  teachers  in  this  state  implies 
a  recognition  of  the  high  school.  Its  certificates  are  classed  as  “secondary”  and  “primary.” 
There  are  three  kinds  of  the  former:  first-grade  secondary  (on  diploma),  first-grade  second¬ 
ary  (on  examination),  and  second-grade  secondary  (on  examination).  Graduation  from 
the  state  Peabody  Normal  College  meets  the  requirements  for  the  first  kind  of  certificate. 
Beyond  this  implication,  the  requirements  for  high-school  teachers  are  left  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  the  local  school  boards.  The  usual  custom  in  the  cities,  as  described  by  one, 
“is  to  secure  as  far  as  possible  graduates  from  the  University  of  Tennessee  or  Peabody 


Department]  SECONDARY  TEACHERS  IN  SOUTHERN  STATES 


621 


Normal  College.”  In  the  language  of  another  the  custom  is  that  the  teachers  shall  be 
“graduates  of  some  reputable  college.” 

Texas:  The  requirement  is  merely  “the  possession  of  a  city  or  state  teacher’s  cer¬ 
tificate  of  a  first  grade  or  a  permanent  grade,  sometimes  of  a  college  diploma.”  “There 
is  no  law  in  this  state  which  specially  prescribes  the  scholastic  preparation  or  the  pedagogical 
training  of  high-school  teachers.  Every  city  and  town  is  a  law  unto  itself  in  this  matter.” 

“There  is  an  unwritten  law  not  to  employ  any  teacher  in  the  Austin  high  school 
who  is  not  a  college  or  university  graduate.”  Dallas  seeks  “to  secure  thoroly  educated, 
well-trained  teachers  of  successful  experience.”  ^Fort  Worth  “  as  far  as  possible  gets  gradu¬ 
ates  of  colleges — these  being  better  than  the  normal-school  graduates.”  Without  any 
requirement  being  in  force,  “most  of  the  teachers  of  the  Houston  high  school  are  graduates 
of  the  State  University  of  Texas  or  of  some  institution  of  equal  standing.”  San  Antonio 
selects  its  teachers  “from  an  eligible  list  who  pass  the  high-school  examination.”  Waco 
“rarely  elects  a  high-school  teacher  who  does  not  hold  a  diploma  of  a  recognized  college 
or  university;  some  experience  in  teaching  (in  lower  grades  or  in  a  high  school  elsewhere) 
is  required.” 

ViRGEsriA:  The  following  legal  requirement  obtains:  “Persons  desiring  to  teach  in 
the  public  high  schools  of  Virginia  shall  be  examined  on  such  public  high-school  branches 
as  they  may  be  required  to  teach;  provided,  that  graduates  of  colleges  and  universities  of 
approved  standing  and  reputation,  shall  be  permitted,  without  further  examination,  to 
teach  in  such  schools  the  branches  in  which  they  have  beeil  graduated.”  Pedagogical 
training  other  than  theory  and  practice  (“usually  as  found  in  some  one  single  text  on  peda¬ 
gogy”)  is  not  required. 

Danville  makes  no  requirements.  Even  in  the  absence  of  a  rule,  all  teachers  in  Lynch¬ 
burg  are  college  graduates.  Norfolk  requires  them  to  be  “graduates  of  a  satisfactory 
university  or  college  on  the  subjects  they  are  to  teach.” 

West  Virginia.  In  the  absence  of  a  state  law,  the  custom  in  the  best  high  schools 
of  requiring  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree  in  a  high-grade  school  has  become  “nearly  univer¬ 
sal.”  Among  the  others,  normal-school  graduates  are  chiefly  in  demand.  The  training 
requirement  is  badly  overlooked  by  all  of  them.  Usually  experience  has  been  had  in 
the  lower  grades.  A  majority  of  the  teachers  in  Charleston,  Fairmont,  Huntington,  and 
Parkersburg  are  coUege  graduates.  “  The  recent  practice  in  ^Vheeling  has  been  to  appoint 
only  college  graduates  with  experience  in  teaching.” 

Washington,  D.  C.,  specifies  two  requirements:  “(i)  College  degree  and  passing 
an  examination  for  high-school  teachership;  (2)  Normal  graduates  with  five  years’  experi¬ 
ence  as  a  teacher  in  a  high  school,  except  possibly  as  to  graduates  of  local  normal  schools.” 

ACADEMIC  INSTRUCTION  PROVIDED  ESPECIALLY  FOR  SECONDARY  TEACHERS 

'The  information  gathered  by  the  second  question  is  very  meager.  There 
are  but  few  institutions  (probably  three)  in  the  South  which  attempt  to  prepare 
high-school  teachers  by  devising  courses  of  study  particularly  adapted  to  such 
preparation  or  by  indicating  something  of  the  work  which  ought  to  be  taken 
as  a  part  of  such  preparation.  Partly  to  indicate  the  existing  attitude  toward 
this  factor,  and  partly  to  record  existing  conditions  in  the  academic  training 
of  secondary  teachers,  detailed  mention  will  be  made  of  this  information, 
even  at  the  risk  of  greater  monotony  of  record  than  in  the  preceding  section  of 
this  report. 

Alabama  presents  no  academic  instruction  especially  designed  for  high-school  teachers. 
The  usual  high-school  subjects  are  taught  in  high  schools,  normal  schools,  and  some  of  the 
colleges,  but  not  with  a  view  to  the  preparation  of  the  teachers  of  them  in  high  schools. 
The  standard  conception  seems  to  be  that  going  over  these  subjects  in  the  progress  of  one’s 


622 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


pursuit  of  the  secondary  curriculiun  is  sufficient  preparation  for  giving  instruction  in  the 
same  subjects.  This  remark  applies  to  almost  all  other  southern  states  with  equal  force. 

Arkansas  yielded  no  information,  and  even  showed  some  misunderstanding  of  the 
point  involved.  One  city  reports:  “Latin,  modern  languages.  Our  high  school  is  the 
regular  accredited  high  or  secondary  school.”  Another  conducts  “reviews  once  each 
month  on  English,  mathematics,  science,  history.” 

Florida:  The  University  of  Florida,  lately  reorganized,  has  under  way  an  A.B.  course 
in  pedagogy.  The  academic  work  will,  at  the  end  of  the  sophomore  year,  qualify  for  the 
state  certificate  which  requires  examination  in  geometry,  trigonometry,  botany,  zoology, 
physics,  literature,  general  history,  Caesar  and  Vergil  (two  books  each),  and  psychology. 

Georgia  :  Beyond  the  usual  courses  of  study  in  aU  the  higher  grades  of  institutions,  which 
are  open  to  and  taken  by  those  who  may  become,  and  who  may  now  be,  high-school  teachers, 
no  courses  of  study  are  offered  for  such  preparation.  In  one  institution  regular  college 
elective  courses  are  significantly  regarded  as  especially  designed  for  high-school  teachers. 

Kentucky:  The  State  College  offers  two  courses  designed  to  prepare  teachers  for 
high-school  work.  One  is  a  college  course  (foiu*  years)  and  leads  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Pedagogy.  “The  entrance  requirements  to  the  freshman  class  are  on  a  par  with  those 
of  other  colleges  in  the  South.”  The  other  is  the  state-diploma  course,  and  covers  the 
work  of  the  high  school  and  about  the  first  year  in  college.  There  is  much  psychology 
and  theoretical  pedagogy  in  each  coarse.  The  completion  of  either  course  entitles  the 
person  to  a  life-certificate  to  teach  in  Kentucky. 

Louisiana:  Although  a  high-school  course  of  study  has  been  graded,  outlined,  and 
adopted  by  the  State  Department  of  Education,  no  institution  has  devised  instruction 
especially  designed  for  the  academic  preparation  of  secondary  teachers.  The  new  depart¬ 
ment  of  philosophy  and  education  in  the  Louisiana  State  University  introduces  academic 
subjects  of  collegiate  grade  in  its  four-years’  course  leading  to  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree, 
but  they  are  only  the  courses  given  to  all  other  academic  students. 

Maryland:  “The  state  normal  schools  offer  no  courses.  Several  colleges  are  state 
aided,  and  supply  many  secondary  teachers;  but  they  offer  no  course  especially  designed 
for  secondary  teachers.” 

Missouri:  The  State  Department  is  opposed  to  such  instruction.  But  the  University 
of  Missouri  has  notably  developed  a  Teachers  College'originally  intended  to  prepare  high- 
school  teachers.  Recently  it  has  added  instruction  designed  to  prepare  elementary  teachers 
as  well.  For  the  preparation  of  high-school  teachers  it  provides  (in  addition  to  courses 
available  in  the  department  of  liberal  arts,  the  usual  undergraduate  courses)  the  following 
academic  courses:  agronomy  (3  hrs.),  manual  training  for  high-school  teachers  (6  hrs.), 
advanced  algebra  (3  hrs.),  trigonometry,  and  analytical  geometry  (3  hrs.),  physiography 
of  North  America  and  Europe  (3  hrs.),  meteorology  (3  hrs.),  physical  geography  (3  hrs.), 
botany  (two  courses  6  hrs.),  elocution  (3  hrs.),  English  (two  courses  6  hrs.),  German 
(3  hrs.),  Latin  (Cicero  and  Vergil  3  hrs.),  Greek  (Anabasis  3  hrs.),  Greek  literature  in 
English  translation  (3  hrs.),  history  of  Greece  (3  hrs.),  history  of  Rome  (3  hrs.),  the  evolu¬ 
tion  of  cultivated  plants  (3  hrs.),  general  physics  (3  hrs.),  and  experimental  physics  (3  hrs.). 
This  plan  of  work  is  not  committed  to,  but  tends  to  prepare  for,  departmental  teaching  in  the 
high  school. 

Cape  Girardeau  Normal  School  claims  to  be  “a  teachers’  college  and  offers  a  full 
college  course  in  the  languages,  mathematics,  history,  English,  and  the  sciences,  in  addition 
to  its  professional  courses.”  But  none  of  this  is  specified  as  designed  for  the  secondary 
teacher.  Warrensburg  State  Normal  School:  “We  grant  our  diploma  to  graduates  of 
A.B.  courses  or  of  first-class  four-year  high  schools  without  much  requirement  along 
academic  lines.” 

North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Tennessee  offer  nothing  beyond  the 
courses  provided  for  all  students  in  imiversities,  colleges,  and  normal  schools. 

Texas:  The  University  of  Texas  has  a  school  of  education,  but  not  a  teachers’  college 


Department]  SECONDARY  TEACHERS  IN  SOUTHERN  STATES  •  623 


The  idea  that  the  future  teacher  in  a  high  school  needs  special  preparation  prevails  here 
to  a  certain  extent,  but  not  in  a  completely  differentiated  form.  This  is  evidenced  by  the 
policy,  waived  in  exceptional  cases,  of  recommending  persons  for  high-school  positions  in 
the  state  of  Texas  only  when  they  have  completed  specified  academic  courses,  and  also 
by  the  practice  of  urging  students  preparing  to  be  secondary  teachers  to  take  certain  courses 
while  receiving  their  academic  training.  Thus,  before  a  person  is  recommended  as  a 
secondary  teacher  of  Latin  he  must  have  taken  in  Latin  three  full  college  courses;  in 
German,  four  and  two-thirds  full  courses  or  their  equivalent;  in  English,  four  full  courses; 
in  mathematics,  three  full  courses;  while  in  chemistry  the  student  is  urged  to  take  nine 
full  and  partial  courses. 

Virginia  offers  no  courses  especially  for  high-school  teachers. 

West  Virginia  University  “offers  sixteen  courses  for  high-school  teachers  and 
others”  in  its  department  of  education. 

PEDAGOGICAL  INSTRUCTION  PROVIDED  FOR  SECONDARY  TEACHERS 

Alabama:  The  University  of  Alabama  provides  junior  and  senior  years’  courses 
on  genetic  psychology,  principles  of  education  (presupposing  psychology,  logic,  and  ethics), 
and  history  of  education,  in  which  the  problems  of  secondary  education  receive  consider¬ 
able  attention,  but  the  courses  are  not  specifically  designed  for  high-school  teachers  in 
preparation  for  their  work.  In  common  with  like  institutions  in  Georgia,  North  Carolina, 
Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  it  has  a  faculty  member,  maintained  by  the  General  Education 
Board,  who  devotes  his  efforts  to  establishing  in  the  state  a  policy  of  public  high  schools. 
Some  of  the  instruction  given  in  these  state  universities  mentioned  below  results  from  this 
movement  of  the  General  Education  Board.  The  normal  schools  give  the  usual  courses 
on  psychology  or  psychology  in  education,  history  of  education,  theory  and  practice  of 
teaching,  school  management  and  methods,  but  not  for  high-school  teachers  as  such. 
Probably  most  of  this  instruction,  as  elsewhere,  pertains  to  the  lower  grades  of  school  work, 
when  not  treating  of  “education  in  general.”  The  larger  cities  sometimes  have  means 
for  pedagogical  work  on  the  part  of  high-school  teachers  already  in  the  service.  This 
usually  consists  of  “monthly  meetings  of  teachers  where  some  author  on  pedagogical  sub¬ 
jects  or  school  management  is  studied.”  The  superintendent  or  principal  selects  the 
works  which  are  thus  read  and  discussed. 

Arkansas:  Pine  Bluff  has  bimonthly  meetings  of  teachers  for  regular  courses  in  psy¬ 
chological  reading  and  instruction. 

Florida:  At  the  University  of  Florida,  students  in  pedagogy  devote  from  one-fifth 
to  one-fourth  of  their  time  on  psychology,  methods,  school  economy,  and  history  of  educa¬ 
tion. 

Georgia:  The  University  of  Georgia  provides  courses  for  junior-  and  senior-year 
students  on  history  of,  science  of,  and  principles  of  education  and  school  management, 
including  the  general  subject  of  secondary  education.  The  latter  considers  “especially 
the  relation  of  the  high  school  to  the  common  schools,  the  colleges,  and  the  community  at 
large,  its  course  of  study,  organization,  and  methods  in  America  and  the  leading  European 
countries.” 

Kentucky:  Nothing  is  offered  in  the  state  beyond  “the  usual  professional”  courses. 

Louisiana  State  University  by  its  new  department  of  philosophy  and  education 
attempts,  among  other  things,  “to  aid  in  increasing  the  scope  and  development  of  high 
schools,  to  qualify  teachers  for  the  higher  grades  of  work  in  high  schools  and  junior  colleges, 
and  to  prepare  teachers  as  supervisors,  principals,  and  parish  superintendents.”  The 
pedagogical  courses  are  so  arranged  and  balanced  with  required  and  elective  academic 
courses  as  to  occupy  from  one  to  four  years,  and  lead  to  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree.  In 
addition  to  the  usual  courses  on  education  and  cognate  subjects,  it  has  one  course  on 
methods  (one  year)  “especially  in  secondary  subjects”  which  also  treats  of  the  “aim,  scope, 
and  function  of  the  high  school.” 


624 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Maryland:  “None  offered  in  the  state.” 

Mississippi:  A  decade  or  more  ago  the  University  of  Mississippi  actively  began  a 
policy  of  fostering  high  schools  in  the  state  and  extending  their  courses  of  study  with  a 
view  to  meeting  college-entrance  requirements.  It  has  done  little,  however,  on  the  peda¬ 
gogical  lines  of  interest  in  this  inquiry. 

Missouri:  The  Teachers  College  of  the  State  University  offers  the  most  extended 
facilities  along  professional  lines  for  high-school  teachers  to  be  found  in  the  southern 
states.  In  addition  to  several  courses  designed  for  elementary  teachers,  the  following  are 
given  especially  for  high-school  teachers:  educational  psychology  (half  year,  presupposing 
half  year  of  experimental  psychology),  principles  of  education  (half  vr.),  secondary 
education  (half  yr),  practice  teaching  for  high-school  teachers  (i  yr.),  the  teaching  of 
German  (2  hrs.,  half  }u),  teaching  of  Latin  and  Greek  (half  yr.),  teaching  of  Greek  and 
Roman  history  (i  hr.,  half  )t.),  the  teaching  of  mathematics  (2  hrs.,  half  yr.),  the  teaching 
of  physics  (2  hrs.,  half  yr.),  the  teaching  of  geography  (2  hrs.,  half  yr.)  in  part  for 
high-school  teachers,  and  the  following  which  are  open  to  such  teachers  but  are  not 
described  as  designed  for  any  specific  grade  of  teachers:  teachers’  conference  on  botany 
(2  hrs.,  half  }t.),  the  teaching  of  English  (2  hrs.,  half  yr.),  teachers’  course  on  elocution 
(i  hr.,  half  yr.),  and  the  teaching  of  art. 

Washington  University  offers  five  courses  on  pedagogy,  but  not  specifically  for  second¬ 
ary  teachers.  The  City  of  Carthage  requires  “two  promotional  examinations,”  or  one 
examination  and  one  term  in  a  summer  school  approved  by  the  superintendent. 

North  Carolina  offers  nothing. 

South  Carolina:  The  University  of  South  Carolina  offered  a  new  course  last  year 
on  the  “  Pedagogics  of  the  high  school,  a  two-hour  half-year  course,  elective  to  junior  and 
senior  students,  which  comprised  the  work  of  seven  co-instructors,  treating  of  secondary 
education,  and  of  English,  Latin,  history,  mathematics,  geography,  and  nature-study  in 
the  high  school. 

Tennessee:  The  University  of  Tennessee  offers  besides  the  usual  pedagogical  courses 
“a  course  in  secondary  education,  including  the  psychology  and  pedagogy  of  adolescence, 
the  history  of  secondary  education,  the  comparative  study  of  secondary  schools  in  America 
and  the  principal  culture  nations  of  Europe,  and  some  specific  high-school  problems  in  this 
section.” 

Texas:  The  University  of  Texas,  in  addition  to  the  usual  courses  in  general  method, 
psychology,  child-study,  school  management,  history  of  education,  and  philosophy  of  educa¬ 
tion,  designed  to  aid  secondary  teachers,  principals,  and  superintendents  of  schools,  offers 
the  following  “professional”  courses:  secondary  education  (3  hrs.,  one-third  year),  botani¬ 
cal  method  (3  hrs.,  one-third  yr.),  the  teaching  of  elementary  mathematics  (3  hrs.,  one- 
third  }T.,  partly  for  high-school  teachers),  the  teaching  of  Latin  (3  hrs.,  two-thirds  yr.),  and 
the  teaching  of  manual  training. 

\hRGiNiA:  The  University  of  Virginia  offers  a  one-year’s  (3  hrs.)  course  in  each  of 
the  following:  secondary  education,  philosophy  and  psychology  of  education,  principles 
of  education,  history  of  education,  and  school  administration.  These  are  not  primarily 
designed  for  high-school  teachers. 

West  Virginia  University  offers  nothing  beyond  what  was  mentioned  in  the  second 
section  of  this  report. 

PRACTICE  TEACHING  IN  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  PREVIOUS  TO  EMPLOYMENT 

The  existing  condition  is  best  described  by  the  prevalence  of  the  custom 
which  either  neglects  this  element  in  the  preparation  of  the  high-school  teacher, 
or,  if  recognized  and  insisted  upon,  is  relegated  to  some  other  institution  or  to 
some  distant  high  school,  if  not  frequently  to  training  and  experience  in  lower 
grades  of  schoolwork.  This  is  probably  the  factor  most  foreign  in  the  training 


Department]  SECONDARY  TEACHERS  IN  SOUTHERN  STATES 


625 


of  secondary  teachers.  Even  many  training  or  normal  schools  recognize  the 
fact  that  many  of  their  students  have  had  “experience”  in  school  teaching 
before  taking  up  their  courses  of  study,  and,  consequently,  lighten  or  lessen 
-  the  amount  of  work  done  in  practice  teaching. 

Alabama:  The  Troy  Normal  College  Practice  School  does  “some  high-school  work” 
in  its  last  grade,  and  to  this  extent  its  graduates  have  practice  before  employment.  Birm¬ 
ingham  requires  heads  of  departments  to  have  had  experience  in  teaching  before  appoint¬ 
ment.  In  Mobile  some  teachers  are  promoted  from  the  grades  to  the  high  school  vdthout 
having  had  high-school  practice;  some  high-school  teachers  have  had  experience  in  high- 
school  work  elsewhere. 

Arkansas:  Cities  in  this  state  commonly  have  a  “cadet  class,  the  members  of  which 
practice  in  the  schools  as  substitute  workers.” 

Georgia:  “Chiefly  in  common  schools  during  course.”  Augusta  depends  “on 
other  colleges  for  the  training  of  our  teachers.”  ISIacon  requires  “practice  work  two  hours 
a  day  in  our  school.  After  they  complete  a  noruial  course,  we  use  them  a  year  (probation) 
as  supernumerary  teachers,  and  afterwards  employ  in  our  public  schools  as  regular  teachers 
those  whose  work  is  satisfactory.” 

Kentucky:  State  College:  “Some  limited  practice  is  given  to  students  in  regular 
comses,  but  it  does  not  constitute  any  part  of  the  required  course.”  Louisville:  No. 
“We  usually  employ  some  one  who  has  had  previous  experience  in  some  other  school 
system.”  They  found  that  employing  college  graduates  (in  the  Girls’  High  School) 
without  previous  practice  did  not  give  good  results. 

Louisiana:  “Not  as  yet,”' as  one  writer  puts  it. 

Maryland:  Only  the  practice  “designed  to  prepare  elementary  teachers,”  as  one 
return  very  frankly  puts  it. 

Mississippi:  The  custom  is  not  based  on  as  good  practices  as  in  other  states,  this 
state  not  having  any  normal  schools,  even. 

^klissoURi:  Most  Missouri  high-school  teachers  are  college  graduates  “who  have  thru 
summer  schools  and  the  regular  terms  of  our  state  normals  or  Teachers  College,  received 
pedagogical  training.”  “Missouri  is  unalterably  opposed  to  creating  an  institution  for 
the  special  purpose  of  preparing  high-school  teachers.  Our  best  high-school  teachers  are 
not  those  who  have  been  specially  prepared  for  that  work.  They  are  our  best  educated 
people  who  grow  into  the  ability  to  manage  high  schools  thru  having  managed  lower  grade 
school  work  thoroly”  (State  Department  of  Education.). 

In  the  high  school  connected  with  Teachers  College  of  the  State  University,  provision 
is  made  for  definite  practice  teaching  in  high-school  work  in  the  training  of  the  teachers. 
“Before  certificates  to  teach  in  high  schools  are  given,  candidates  must  prove  their  ability 
to  do  work  in  those  subjects  for  which  they  wish  certificates.  Three  to  nine  hours’  credit 
is  required.  This  is  done  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  professor  of  theory  and 

practice  of  teaching,  assisted  by  others  of  the  Teachers  College  faculty . The  school 

is,  in  a  sense,  experimental,  as  inexperienced  teachers  are  called  upon  to  test  theories  and 
methods  suggested  to  them.” 

Cape  Girardeau  State  Normal  School  plans  the  introduction  of  high-school  practice 
in  its  training  of  teachers  a  year  hence.  Outside  these  schools,  the  general  plan  in  this 
state  for  securing  practice  in  high-school  teaching  is  by  serving  as  “apprentice  teacher.s 
in  the  schools  of  a  large  city.” 

North  Carolina:  The  plan  begun  last  year  at  Durham  is  this:  “We  take  a  few 
prospective  teachers  and  give  them  practice  work  in  our  high  school.  Such  applicants  must 
be  college  graduates.  They  join  our  training  class  and  spend  their  time  in  the  classrooms 
while  the  school  is  in  session.” 

South  Carolina:  “No  provision  for  such  practice  is  known.” 


626 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Tennessee:  “Unfortunately  there  is  not  opportunity  for  students  to  get  such 
practice.” 

Texas:  The  State  University  and  normal  schools  have  made  no  provision  for  practice 
teaching  nor  for  adequate  observation.  “In  some  cities  by  means  of  a  system  of  super¬ 
numerary  teachers  they  can.”  Austin:  “We  do  not  employ  teachers  who  have  not  had 
practice.”  Dallas:  “We  do  not  employ  inexperienced  teachers  for  high-school  work.” 

Virginia:  “No.”  “ In  our  grammar  schools”  only.  “Practice  at  our  normal  schools.” 

West  Virginia:  The  Huntington  Normal  School  admits  students  of  the  training 
department  who  expect  to  do  high-school  work  to  the  classes  of  the  regular  academic 
department,  which  more  than  covers  the  high-school  courses,  and  practice  teaching  under 
the  superintendent  of  the  training  department. 

SUPPLEMENTARY  REPORT 

At  the  request  of  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  the  following  is  offered 
in  response  to  the  two  nquiries. 

1.  What  professional  preparation  is  desirable  for  southern  secondary- 
school  teachers  ?  and, 

2.  What  professional  preparation  is  possible  under  existing  conditions  for 
southern  secondary-school  teachers  ? 

The  high  school  of  the  South  possesses  problems  which  are  not  marked  by 
any  geographical  pecul  arity.  These  problems  are  national  and  not  local. 
If  any  peculiarity  obtains  it  is  due  primarily  to  its  historical  descent  from  the 
old-time  southern  classical  academy.  This  historic  connection  will,  in  large 
measure,  explain  the  presence  of  the  classical  or  literary  flavor  which  obtains 
and  also  the  custom  of  college  graduates  becoming  secondary  teachers.  The 
industrial  or  technical  high  school  in  the  South  is  the  exception. 

It  is  also  a  mistake  to  assume  or  maintain  that  the  secondary  school  in  the 
South  materially  differs  from  that  in  other  sections  of  the  United  States.  The 
factors  of  waste  in  the  population  and  the  economic  conditions  for  developing 
native  resources  and  sustaining  human  industries  do  not,  aside  from  imiting 
the  material  resources  of  high  schools,  determine  the  question  of  the  southern 
high  school  for  the  whites.  It  is  chiefly  the  high  school  for  the  negro  which  has 
its  questions  determined  by  those  conditions  as  related  to  the  negro. 

One  fact  which  indicates  that  southern  high  schools  cannot  be  regarded  as 
sui  generis  is  the  employment  in  them  of  teachers  prepared  by  northern  insti¬ 
tutions.  The  pursuit  of  studies  in  the  latter  by  native  southern  teachers 
points  in  the  same  direction.  The  demand  for  professional  secondary 
training  is  therefore  the  same  in  the  South  as  in  the  North;  or,  to  be  more 
accurate,  is  growing  to  be  the  same.  The  above  report  on  existing  conditions 
indicates  the  widespread  recognition  of  this  demand. 

There  are  a  few  features  in  secondary  training  made  desirable,  if  not 
necessary,  by  reason  of  their  intimate  relation  to  successful  secondary  teaching. 
The  best  high  schools  of  the  day  are,  and  all  high  schools  of  the  future  will  be, 
departmental.  This  is  required  for  efficiency,  and  indicates  the  degree  of 
scholarship  needful  for  high-school  work.  But  secondary  teaching  tends  to 
become  too  exclusively  departmental  so  as  to  prevent  the  teachers  getting  a 


Department]  SECONDARY  TEACHERS  IN  SOUTHERN  STATES 


627 


sufficient  knowledge  of  the  pupil  as  an  individual  who  has  passed  up  thru 
definite  school  processes.  High-school  teachers  forget  the  childhood  of  the 
pupil  which  has  been  passed  in  the  grades.  No  less  do  they  lack  a  sense  of 
the  unity  in  the  work  of  the  high  school  as  a  whole.  Correlation  of  all  the 
secondary-school  factors  is  necessary,  and  this  can  be  made  real  only  thru 
adequate  professional  training. 

Under  existing  conditions  there  are  three  means,  suggested  by  actual 
experience  in  the  administration  of  high  schools,  available  for  equipping 
teachers  more  effectively  for  the  high  school; 

1.  City  systems  could  require  that  college  graduates  aspiring  to  high-school 
positions  should  become  elementary  teachers,  for  a  time  at  least.  This  would 
make  the  schools  responsible  for  “professionalizing”  their  own  teachers. 

2.  Normal  schools  could  add  to  the  work  they  are  already  doing  a  depart¬ 
ment  designed  to  prepare  secondary  teachers.  This  is  possible  in  all  the  states, 
except  Arkansas  and  Mississippi,  where  state  normal  schools  do  not  exist. 

3.  Colleges  and  universities  could  add  a  year’s  course  of  study,  which, 
presupposing  the  Bachelor’s  degree,  would  provide  special  preparation  for 
the  secondary  teacher.  This  work  would  be  an  intensive  study  of  what  I 
call  the  pedagogy  of  the  high  school.  This  would  include  the  history  of  the 
high  school  (particularly  in  the  United  States),  the  psychology  of  adoles¬ 
cence,  methods  of  recitation  in  the  high  school,  review  of  elementary-school 
processes,  review  of  secondary  subjects  for  specialization  in  the  light  of  the 
foregoing  and  in  the  interest  of  effective  correlation  of  departments  and  sub¬ 
jects,  and  the  ethics  of  adolescence  as  related  to  the  development  of  the  insti¬ 
tutional  tendencies  peculiar  to  the  high-school  student  and  American  ife  in 
general.  This  work  would  not  treat  the  high  school  as  an  isolated  part  of  the 
public-school  system.  This  work  could  also  presuppose  much  of  the  work 
now  done  in  education  as  a  part  of  the  provisions  for  the  Bachelor’s  degree. 
This  postgraduate  work  could  then  lead  to  the  Master’s  degree  in  education, 
and  thus  become  somewhat  of  a  professional  degree  for  teaching,  corresponding 
to  simfiar  degrees  in  engineering,  law,  etc.  This  is  possible  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  numerous  leading  high  schools  have  already  established  for  them¬ 
selves  the  custom  of  giving  preference  to  applicants  who  possess  the  Master’s 
degree,  even  on  the  basis  of  the  usual  academic  work. 

4.  Practice  teaching  in  a  model  high  school  is  probably  not  demanded  as  a 
part  of  this  professional  training.  Where  possible,  visitation,  observation, 
and,  perhaps,  some  teaching  in  the  school  where  one  is  to  be  employed,  could 
better  replace  the  model  practice."  At  least  the  widespread  custom  of  proba- 
tioning  new  secondary  teachers  strongly  indicates  the  necessity  of  each  school 
fashioning  its  own  teachers  finally  in  accordance  with  its  own  best  spirit  and 
traditions. 

Into  the  question  of  professional  requirements  after  the  secondary  teacher 
gets  into  service  it  is  not  meet  for  these  suggestions  to  enter.  Most  of  the 
foregoing  suggested  requirements  are  now  practically  recognized  in  many 


628 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


localities,  and  it  is  possible  under  existing  conditions  to  standardize  them 
thruout  the  South  and  the  nation  at  large. 

XIV  {special) 

CAPACITY  AND  LIMITATIONS  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 
IN  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION 
OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

JOHN  W.  COOK,  PRESIDENT  NORTHERN  ILLINOIS  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

The  battle  for  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  elementary- 
schools  is  substantially  won.  The  educational  people  are  of  one  mind  with 
regard  to  it  and  the  general  public  approves  the  action  of  its  representatives 
in  making  appropriations  from  the  state  treasuries  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  normal  schools.  While  these  institutions  are  not  limited, 
ordinarily,  by  their  charters  to  the  preparation  of  elementary  teachers,  at  least 
not  in  this  country,  the  extreme  demand  for  teachers  of  that  class  has  fur¬ 
nished  such  a  practical  limitation  in  the  great  majority  of  cases.  Here  and 
there,  however,  a  normal  school  has  been  influenced  by  college  traditions  and 
has  developed  so  strongly  on  the  academic  side  that  many  of  its  graduates 
have  become  teachers  in  secondary  schools. 

The  marked  advantages  that  have  come  to  the  elementary  schools  thru 
the  professional  training  of  their  teachers  has  awakened  a  warm  interest  along 
similar  lines  among  the  high-school  people.  This  is  the  most  logical  of  con¬ 
sequences,  and  the  practical  question  that  is  now  up  for  discussion  with  them 
is  with  respect  to  the  instrumentalities  that  should  be  employed  in  the  technical 
preparation  of  teachers  for  their  schools.  Certain  of  the  normal-school  prin¬ 
cipals  believe  that  their  institutions  are  admirably  equipped  for  such  service 
and  submit  a  statement  of  what  they  have  been  doing  in  that  direction  for 
some  time  in  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  their  contention.  Others  hold  that  the 
needs  of  the  two  classes  of  teachers  are  so  divergent  that  it  is  unwise  for  the 
normal  schools  to  attempt  to  cover  both  fields.  In  attempting  to  discuss  this 
question  I  have  the  possible  disadvantage  of  being  connected  with  a  school 
which  has  no  particular  ambition  in  the  way  of  preparing  secondary  teachers. 
In  our  study  of  the  question  it  will  be  well  to  set  the  demands  of  the  two  classes 
of  school  as  near  each  other  as  possible  and  thus  to  determine  by  such  a  juxta¬ 
position  the  degree  of  variation  and  its  bearing  upon  the  problem. 

I.  GENERAL  SCHOLARSHIP 

Instruction  is  one  of  the  necessary  functions  of  the  teacher.  It  may  be 
defined  as  the  canceling  of  the  inequality  in  knowledge  that  exists  between  the 
teacher  and  the  pupil.  The  inequality,  therefore,  is  presupposed.  Nothing 
more  certainly  and  more  quickly  undermines  the  respect  which  the  pupil  should 
feel  for  his  teacher  than  the  suspicion  that  he  is  not  a  respectable  authority 
in  the  subjects  in  which  he  attempts  instruction.  As  Rosenkranz  aptly  re¬ 
marks:  “His  authority  over  his  pupil  consists  only  in  his  knowledge  and 


Department]  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  FOR  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS  629 


ability.  If  he  has  not  these,  no  external  support,  no  trick  of  false  appearances 
which  he  may  put  on,  will  serve  to  create  it  for  him.”  He  richly  merits  the 
contempt  which  his  presumption  and  dishonesty  will  inevitably  provoke.  A 
wide  gap  in  knowledge  between  the  teacher  and  the  pupil  is  demanded,  not 
alone  in  the  interests  of  accurate  and  inspiring  instruction,  but,  as  well,  by  all 
of  the  ethical  relations  of  the  school. 

The  immediate  demands  for  knowledge  in  the  two  classes  of  schools  under 
discussion  are  widely  variant.  The  curriculum  of  the  elementary  school  is,  of 
necessity,  narrow  and  superficial  when  compared  with  that  of  the  high  school. 
The  first  four  years  are  mainly  confined  to  the  acquisition  of  a  fair  degree  of 
mastery  over  the  tools  of  culture.  In  the  last  half  of  the  course  there  is  an 
ascent  into  the  elements  of  the  knowledges,  but,  usually,  the  grammar  school 
leaves  off  where  the  high  school  begins. 

It  goes  without  saying  that,  other  things  being  equal,  the  broader  and  more 
thoro  the  scholarship  the  better  the  teacher,  regardless  of  the  grade  in  which 
he  is  employed.  The  imagination  fondly  dwells  upon  what  would  be  possible 
if  in  every  school  there  were  a  liberally  educated  teacher.  That  is  an  inspiring 
ideal  to  nourish  as  we  press  on  to  better  things,  but  its  realization  is  entirely 
out  of  the  question  at  present  and  will  be  for  an  indefinite  time  to  come. 
Where  the  highest  welfare  of  human  beings  is  concerned  it  is  a  rude  shock 
to  our  fine  idealism  to  have  such  material  considerations  as  a  mere  lack  of 
pecuniary  resources  determine  matters  of  such  supreme  and  far-reaching 
moment.  They  will  push  themselves  into  prominence,  however,  and  will  de¬ 
termine  in  large  measure  the  course  of  events,  whether  agreeable  to  our  ideas 
or  otherwise. 

With  regard  to  the  matter  of  general  scholarship  it  may  be  said  that  gradu¬ 
ation  from  a  high  school  having  a  good  four-year  course  implies  an  academic 
preparation  which  answers  the  needs  of  the  elementary  school  very  well.  It 
furnishes,  also,  a  good  basis  for  the  normal  school  to  build  upon  in  the  pro¬ 
fessional  training  of  teachers  for  that  grade.  If  such  a  condition  were  the  rule 
there  would  be  a  radical  improvement  in  the  educational  status  of  the  Middle 
West.  The  superintendent  of  public  instruction  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  his 
latest  report,  1903-04,  furnishes  the  interesting  information  that  there  were 
teaching  in  1904,  in  seventy-two  counties  of  the  state,  4,428  persons  whose 
training  had  been  acquired  wholly  in  the  elementary  schools.  Such  condi¬ 
tions  seem  deplorable  enough,  yet  their  case  would  be  paralleled  by  teachers 
in  secondary  schools  who  have  had  only  high-school  training. 

If  the  contention  for  a  good  high-school  course  as  an  academic  preparation 
for  the  elementary  teacher  be  justified,  a  college  or  university  course,  or  its 
equivalent,  would  seem  to  be  demanded  by  the  same  logic  as  a  foundation  for 
the  high-school  teacher.  This  is  not  unreasonable  and  is  rapidly  becoming 
the  rule.  Because  of  the  relatively  small  number  of  high  schools  the  scholar¬ 
ship  problem  for  their  teachers  is  not  a  very  grave  one;  at  least  it  is  far  less 
difficult  than  the  corresponding  problem  for  the  elementary  schools.  Indeed, 


630 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


the  reasonableness  of  this  higher  discipline  demand  is  so  apparent  that  an 
argument  in  its  defen^ie  seems  quite  unnecessary.  The  work  of  the  pupil 
should  be  seen  in  sufficient  perspective  to  bring  out  its  meaning  or  it  is  likely 
to  fall  into  a  hopeless  formalism.  There  are  certain  phases  of  school  work 
that  are  purely  mechanical  and  that  may  be  conducted  after  a  fashion  by  any 
of  the  pupils  of  a  given  class.  The  Jesuit  schools  employed  the  idea  advan¬ 
tageously  as  they  were  conditioned,  but  Bell  and  Lancaster  worked  it  to  death. 
Such  crude  attempts  at  educating  children  had  some  defense  a  century  ago 
but  they  should  long  since  have  become  obsolete.  Unhappily  they  are  still 
present,  and  very  much  in  evidence,  too,  as  is  proved  by  the  statements  quoted. 
It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  save  the  secondary  schools  a  similar  fate.  Happily 
the  studies  are  of  such  a  character  as  to  make  it  comparatively  easy  to  detect 
the  incompetents  in  scholarship,  for  they  are  quite  sure  to  meet  with  early 
disaster  in  their  attempts  to  teach  what  they  do  not  know. 

n.  SPECIAL  SCHOLARSHIP 

The  advantages  arising  from  an  intensive  study  of  subjects,  in  the  interests 
of  departmental  instruction,  are  so  apparent  that  many  of  the  elementary 
schools  have  adopted  that  method  of  teaching.  In  consequence,  children  of 
ten  or  twelve,  or  even  of  tenderer  years,  march  from  room  to  room  like  young 
collegians,  to  receive  the  instruction  of  teachers  who  are  specializing,  whether 
they  are  specialists  or  not.  They  are  thus  anticipating  the  experiences  of  the 
high. school  and  college.  It  is  quite  possible  that  our  sympathies  for  the 
orphaned  neophytes  maybe  misplaced,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  wisdom 
of  applying  the  method  in  the  high  school.  I  am  not  disposed  to  object  to  its 
application  in  the  upper  grades  to  a  limited  extent,  but  the  amount  of  special¬ 
izing  in  the  elementary  schools  will  not  be  great  for  some  time  to  come.  We 
have  come  to  expect  the  teachers  of  manual  training,  of  music,  of  domestic 
economy,  and  possibly  of  drawing,  to  be  specialists.  For  the  ordinary 
branches,  however,  one  teacher  of  real  ability  has  many  advantages  over  a  group 
of  specializers.  The  children  need  continuity  of  control  and  a  warm  and 
intimate  relation  to  one  person.  There  may  be  something  in  the  remark  of  a 
little  girl  who  had  been  a  pupil  in  a  normal  training-school  and  was  transferred 
to 'a  city  school  under  a  single  teacher.  She  was  “tired  to  death  by  seeing  the 
same  teacher  in  the  same  dress  all  day  long.”  But  she  must  be  classed  among 
the  exceptions.  The  subjects  of  instruction  are  within  the  reach  of  fair  scholar¬ 
ship.  The  lessons  are  neither  long  nor  difficult.  Where  specialization  is 
demanded  it  is  of  a  simple  sort  and  yet  ample  in  its  extent  and  thoroness  for 
all  of  the  needs  of  the  elementary  school. 

With  the  secondary  school  the  case  is  quite  different.  It  has  become  in 
reality  what  it  has  sometimes  been  called,  the  people’s  college.  With  its 
modern  equipment  of  library  and  laboratories  and  shop  and  kitchen  and 
sewing-rooms  and  business  department  and  all  of  the  rest,  and  with  its  extended 
course  of  literary  work  beside,  it  has  outrun  the  old-fashioned  college  of  fifty 


Department]  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  FOR  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS  631 


years  ago  in  many  directions.  While  the  transition  from  the  eighth  grade 
is  a  trifle  abrupt,  perhaps,  and  the  freshman  year  may  be  a  little  bewildering, 
the  pupil  is  well  established  by  the  beginning  of  the  second  year  and  is  soon 
doing  a  kind  of  work  that  a  teacher  cannot  handle  satisfactorily  without  more 
than  the  ordinary  general  training  that  the  college  does.  Ancient  and  modern 
languages,  mathematics,  literature,  science,  and  others  of  the  high-school 
subjects  call  for  teachers  who  have  done  a  good  degree  of  special  intensive 
work.  This  is  also  the  view  of  most  of  the  high-school  people  who  are  con¬ 
ducting  really  superior  schools  either  as  preparatory  to  the  university  or  as  a 
training  for  life. 

I  know  that  the  young  doctors  of  philosophy  quite  often  make  a  sorry  mess 
of  their  teaching,  carrying  the  methods  of  the  university  into  the  high  school; 
but  that  is  because  of  their  lack  of  training  in  teaching,  a  discipline  which  many 
of  them  regard  with  lofty  disdain.  Their  scholarship  is  an  extremely  desirable 
qualification  and  when  they  have  learned  to  use  it  advantageously  they  will  be 
a  great  blessing  to  their  pupils.  The  high-school  boys  and  girls  need  the 
vitalizing  contact  with  genuine  scholars  and  they  will  never  be  more  susceptible 
to  their  influence  than  when  in  the  high  school  and  within  the  hero-worship 
epoch. 

III.  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  ^ 

Can  the  normal  schools  meet  the  demands  of  general  and  special  scholar¬ 
ship  which  have  been  suggested  as  essential  to  the  best  success  of  high-school 
teachers  ? 

That  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  normal  schools.  Indeed,  there  is 
no  normal  school,  but  there  are  normal  schools.  In  no  other  group  of  educa-  * 
tional  institutions  will  there  be  found  such  infinite  variety.  Included  under 
the  term  will  be  found  schools  that  are  as  widely  separated  as  the  Superior 
Normal  School  of  Paris  and  some  of  the  small  private  “normals”  that  main¬ 
tain  a  precarious  existence  from  the  fees  paid  them  by  ambitious  boys  and  girls 
who  want  to  get  enough  of  the  “common  branches”  to  enable  them  to  get  a 
second-grade  certificate  to  teach  a  country  school.  The  former  is  in  a  class 
by  itself.  Perhaps  the  same  is  true  of  the  latter.  Its  faculty  has  enrolled 
many  of  the  most  notable  French  scholars  of  modern  times.  Names  like 
Pasteur’s  adorn  its  cata  ogues.  No  American  normal  school  has  approached 
it  in  the  extent  cf  its  academic  curriculum.  As  to  the  ability  of  such  an  insti¬ 
tution  to  furnish  general  and  special  scholarship  for  teachers  of  high  schools  or 
of  colleges  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

A  fair  number  of  our  western  normal  schools,  anxious  to  compete  with  the 
colleges  or  even  with  the  universities,  in  the  extent  of  their  courses  of  study 
offer  a  training  in  scholarship  that  ought  to  qualify  their  graduates,  in  that 
respect,  for  instruction  in  secondary  schools.  I  quote  from  President  Seerley, 
in  the  Fourth  Year  Book  of  the  Society  for  the  Scientific  Study  of  Education, 
Part  I,  who  discusses  the  “Relative  Advantages  of  Universities  and  Normal 
Schools  in  Preparing  Secondary  Teachers.”  He  says: 


632 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


The  record  of  the  Iowa  Normal  School  is  cited,  not  because  its  scheme  of  work  is  ideal 
nor  its  plans  perfected,  but  because  its  organization  permits  the  training  of  all  classes  and 
all  kinds  of  public-school  teachers.  This  condition  has  existed  for  only  a  few  years  and  yet 
its  graduates  have  taken  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  secondary  education.  It  is  true 
that  they  are  among  the  more  successful  teachers,  and  that  their  influence  upon  the  spirit 
and  tendencies  of  education  is  unequaled  by  any  equivalent  number  of  teachers  who  have 
received  their  training  in  other  kinds  of  educational  institutions. 

He  then  proceeds  to  show  that  there  are  nineteen  high-school  principals, 
twenty-three  city  superintendents,  fifty-eight  department  teachers,  ninety-one 
village  principals,  and  fifty  assistant  principals  who  have  received  all  of  their 
preparation  in  that  institution.  Here  are  241  persons,  a  sufficient  number  to 
generalize  with  regard  to  that  particular  school,  “whose  influence  upon  the 
spirit  and  tendencies  of  education  is  unequaled  by  any  equivalent  number  of 
teachers  who  have  received  their  training  in  other  kinds  of  an  educational 
institution.” 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  just  what  preparation  these  pupils  had 
when  they  entered  the  Iowa  State  Normal  School,  how  long  they  remained 
there,  and  what  courses  they  pursued,  to  what  degree  they  specialized  in  the 
branches  which  they  are  teaching.  Possibly  President  Jones,  of  Ypsilanti, 
and  President  Kirk,  of  Kirksville,  may  have  similar  statements  to  offer,  for 
their  schools  give  advanced  instruction  in  high-school  subjects.  I  may  add 
in  support  of  the  general  proposition  implied  in  President  Seerley’s  statemient, 
that  some  of  the  best  high-school  teachers  of  my  acquaintance  and  some  of  the 
l)est  city  superintendents  in  this  country  received  all  of  their  school  training 
above  the  elementary  grade  in  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University,  at  Normal. 
The  former  have  been  teaching  in  the  same  schools  for  many  years  and  have 
developed  their  work  by  their  private  study,  while  t'  e  latter  owe  rather  more 
to  their  experience,  I  suspect,  than  to  the  school. 

This  widening  of  the  academic  instruction  of  the  normal  school  is  by 
no  means  a  modern  innovation.  It  is  rather  the  original  conception  of  the 
ideal  method  of  training  teachers.  Such  a  system  was  in  operation  in  New 
York  when  the  first  American  normal  school  was  established,  at  Lexington. 
The  discussion  between  the  advocates  of  the  two  systems — an  independent 
normal  school,  on  one  hand,  and  a  normal  department  as  an  attachment  to  an 
academy,  on  the  other — was  protracted  and  intense.  It  is  an  instructive 
chapter  in  the  history  of  American  normal  schools.  It  was  finally  decided,  in 
Massachusetts,  to  adopt  the  former  plan  and  normal  schools  generally,  in  this 
country,  have  followed  the  Lexington  leadership,  not  excepting  the  New  York 
schools.  Where  there  has  been  but  one  normal  school  in  a  state  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  stronger  disposition  to  accent  the  academic  aspects  than  where 
there  are  more. 

What  objection  can  there  be  to  such  an  organization  of  the  normal  school  ? 
That  fine  things  have  been  done  by  schools  having  such  an  organization  must 
be  admitted  in  the  presence  of  testimony  that  is  so  convincing.  It  is  assumed 
in  this  discussion  that  the  primary  purpose  of  such  an  institution  is  the  pro- 


Department]  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  FOR  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS  633 


fessional  preparation  of  teachers,  as  the  primary  purpose  of  a  law  school  is 
not  general  culture  but  the  professional  preparation  of  lawyers.  I  suspect 
that  this  proposition  will  be  admitted  by  all  normal-school  faculties.  The 
divergence  will  come  when  the  method  of  preparation  is  up  for  discussion. 
If  this  is  a  correct  view  of  the  function  of  the  normal  school  the  constant  and 
insistent  preoccupation  of  everyone  connected  with  the  management  of  the 
institution  will  not  be  general  or  special  scholarship  of  an  academic  sort,  but 
will  be  special  scholarship  relating  to  the  teaching  art.  Anything,  then,  that 
tends  to  minimize  the  main  interest  of  the  school,  or  what  should  be  its  main 
interest,  must  be  regarded  as  hostile  to  the  fundamental  purpose  of  the  insti¬ 
tution. 

Where  there  is  a  strong  accentuation  of  the  academic  idea  and  a  rich 
development  of  it  at  the  expense  of  the  professional  idea  it  ought  not  to  call 
itself  a  normal  school,  but  an  academy  or  college  with  a  pedagogical  annex. 
I  do  not  forget  that  I  shall  be  accused  of  thinking  more  of  an  equipment  of 
method  than  of  an  equipment  of  subject-matter  to  which  to  apply  it.  Such 
an  accusation  would  be  unjust.  I  have  no  faith  in  pure  form;  indeed,  such  a 
conception  is  beyond  my  capacity.  I  assume  as  thorogoing  scholarship  upon 
which  to  found  the  pedagogical  instruction  as  any  advocate  of  the  “academic” 
normal  school.  I  plead  for  the  time  which  ought  to  have  been  spent  in  other 
schools  of  a  different  character  and  that  should  be  presupposed,  in  order  that 
it  may  be  spent  in  a  sincere  and  rigorous  study  of  the  science  and  art  of 
education. 

The  simple  truth  is  that  it  is  far  easier  to  run  along  the  old  lines,  long  since 
marked  out  by  the  colleges,  than  it  is  to  develop  a  satisfactory  course  for  teach¬ 
ers.  Because  such  courses  are  yet  in  the  formative  state  and  require  the  most 
persistent  effort  and  the  most  laborious  investigation,  if  they  are  to  be  of  real 
worth,  there  is  no  little  scepticism,  even  in  some  of  the  normal  schools,  as  to 
their  making  much  of  a  demand  upon  the  intelligence  of  the  students.  I 
quote  from  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  advocates  of  the  academic  scholar¬ 
ship  idea,  a  man  whose  success  is  the  strongest  argument  for  his  view;  “If 
the  students  getting  ready  for  a  teacher’s  career  get  nothing  from  a  normal 
school  except  professional  instruction  and  technical  training,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  a  majority  of  them  would  mentally  perish  from  the  monotony  of  the 
effort,  and  would  find  it  necessary  to  decline  to  continue  such  unpalatable 
work.”  This  seems  a  strange  utterance  for  a  normal-school  president  and 
implies  that,  in  his  opinion,  pedagogy  has  not  developed  enough  in  the  way 
of  a  fruitful  content  to  become  the  predominating  subject  of  instruction  in  a 
technical  school. 

It  seems  to  me  to  be  more  than  probable  that  the  strictly  professional 
aspects  of  training  will  be  neglected  in  an  institution  that  engages  largely  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  knowledges  for  their  own  sake.  The  great  majority  of  the 
teachers  in  such  schools  will  devote  themselves  to  their  mathematics  and 
literature  and  science  and  the  rest  and,  in  consequence,  the  pedagogy  will 


634 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


get  scant  attention.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  school  is  really  absorbed  in 
what  would  seem  to  be  the  characteristic  function  of  a  genuine  normal  school 
there  would  not  be  space  nor  inclination  to  furnish  the  general  and  special 
scholarship  in  the  knowledges  that  must  be  presupposed  in  any  good  scheme 
of  professional  instruction.  My  conclusion,  therefore,  is  that  the  normal 
school  is  not  well  adapted  to  the  work  of  the  college,  and  to  the  extent  that  it 
attempts  it  there  will  be  a  falling-off  in  the  quality  of  the  work  along  profes¬ 
sional  lines  which  it  was  especially  organized  to  do  if  it  was  sincere  in  the 
selection  of  its  name.  There  will  not  be  that  unity  of  sentiment,  that  enthusi¬ 
astic  devotion  to  the  study  of  childhood,  that  open-mindedness  with  regard  to 
the  course  of  study,  that  willingness  and  desire  to  submit  the  methods  of  the 
classroom  to  the  test  df  the  most  rigorous  criticism  in  the  light  that  has  been 
thrown  upon  teaching  by  the  sciences  that  relate  to  the  correlated  life  of  body 
and  mind,  that  ought  to  be  found  in  a  teacher’s  seminary. 

IV.  TRAINING  FOR  SECONDARY  VS.  ELEMENTARY  TEACHERS 

Can  the  normal  schools  having  the  ordinary  organization  give  satisfactory 
professional  training  to  secondary  as  well  as  to  elementary  teachers  ? 

It  is  quite  generally  conceded,  at  last,  that  the  normal  schools  are  doing  a 
fair  piece  of  work  in  the  preparation  of  elementary  teachers.  If  it  is  really 
possible  for  them  to  do  as  well  for  secondary  teachers  the  agencies  are  at  hand 
for  the  solution  of  a  problem  that  is  pressing  with  growing  urgency  upon  the 
minds  of  the  educational  people  whose  chief  interests  lie  in  the  secondary 
schools. 

That  the  training  that  elementary  teachers  now  receive  would  be  of  great 
value  to  secondary  teachers  I  do  not  for  a  moment  doubt.  The  high  school  pre¬ 
supposes  the  elementary  school,  hence  it  presupposes  the  first  twelve  or  fifteen 
years  of  the  life  of  the  child.  To  have  a  fairly  accurate  conception  of  what  has 
been  going  on  in  these  wonderful  years  is  to  have  a  most  admirable  prepara¬ 
tion  for  the  high-school  period.  Many  of  the  colleges  and  universities  have 
been  so  favorably  impressed  with  the  work  of  the  state  normal  schools  that 
they  are  willing  to  admit  to  their  junior  classes  such  of  the  graduates  of  their 
two-year  courses  as  were  ready  for  the  university  when  they  entered  the 
normal  school.  With  suitable  work  in  the  higher  institutions,  in  the  way  of 
liberalizing  their  scholarship,  such  persons  become  admirable  teachers  for 
secondary  schools.  Their  professional  training  identifies  them  very  thoroly 
with  the  teaching  idea.  Their  disciplines  in  the  university  redeem  them  from 
the  narrowness  of  a  limited  grasp  of  the  higher  development  of  the  knowl¬ 
edges,  and  stimulate  them  in  a  most  interesting  way  along  the  lines  of  superior 
scholarship.  No  students  are  more  enthusiastic  and  few  are  so  ambitious 
for  professional  scholarship  with  all  that  it  implies  in  the  way  of  general  and 
special  scholarship  in  the  knowledges.  Of  course  they  have  much  to  learn 
about  the  high-school  boy  and  girl  and  of  the  educational  values  of  the  sec¬ 
ondary  curriculum.  But  they  are  extremely  desirable,  as  a  general  proposi- 


Department]  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  FOR  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS  635 


tion.  Large  numbers  of  them  are  extending  their  courses  of  study  in  this 
way  and  are  doing  fine  things,  in  consequence,  for  the  high  schools.  Their 
university  work  is  done  with  the  thought  of  teaching  running  thru  it  all,  and 
they  thus  have  the  advantage  of  assimilating  and  estimating  notions.  Their 
training  and  experience  along  professional  lines  give  them  the  apperceiving 
conceptions  by  which  thgy  can  make  the  most  of  their  new  disciplines.  Where 
they  are  willing  to  do  more  postgraduate  work  in  the  teachers’  colleges  they 
become  quite  ideal  and  indicate  to  us  what  is  really  meant  by  a  professional 
teacher. 

That  the  normal  schools  must  prepare  elementary  teachers  is,  I  think, 
universally  conceded.  If  they  should  not  do  this  they  ought  to  surrender 
their  charters  and  reorganize  as  teachers’  colleges.  Now  the  thing  of  all 
things  that  is  fundamentally  necessary  to  the  grade  teacher  is  the  warmest 
sympathy  with  child  life  and  the  clearest  understanding  of  the  best  methods 
of  its  motivation.  She  must  make  up  her  mind  to  live  with  childhood.  She 
must  shorten  her  step  to  its  slow  intellectual  pace.  She  must  content  herself 
in  her  school  work  with  the  simplicities  of  elementary  knowledge,  so  far  as 
her  teaching  is  concerned.  She  cannot  hope  to  have  her  recitations  filled 
with  the  intellectual  delights  that  come  to  the  teachers  in  the  secondary  and 
superior  schools.  The  demands  made  upon  her  are  peculiarly  exhausting, 
since  alertness,  vivacity,  constant  watchfulness,  genuine  mothering,  are  the 
price  of  any  success  with  young  children.  Real  comradeship  with  them,  in 
any  reciprocal  sense,  is  hardly  possible.  Because  of  these  trying  conditions 
the  normal  school  must  be  suffused,  surcharged,  saturated,  with  interest  in 
the  young  child.  In  a  very  true  sense  he  is  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter. 
An  unsuitable  position  for  a  considerable  portion  of  each  day  may  mean 
curvature  of  the  spine,  with  all  of  its  attendant  penalties.  A  neglect  to  attend 
properly  to  the  quantity  and  disposition  of  light  may  result  in  defective  vision, 
with  all  of  its  embarrassing  handicaps.  Windows  carelessly  left  open  may 
entail  catarrhal  troubles  with  all  of  their  evil  and  offensive  consequences. 
Improper  desks  mean  possible  round  shoulders.  Everywhere  there  is  physical 
plasticity,  but  a  vanishing  plasticity,  leaving  behind  it  symmetry,  if  the 
teacher  is  wise  and  watchful,  or  deformity,  if  she  has  been  neither. 

In  the  mental  life  there  is  the  same  im.pressibility.  It  is  a  time  of  begin¬ 
nings  and  relative  helplessness.  Nothing  is  easier  than  a  maladjustment  of 
tasks  against  which  the  child  is  too  ignorant  to  file  a  conscious  protest.  Few 
things  are  more  difficult  than  a  generous  understanding  of  the  opening  life, 
a  discovery  of  the  employments  most  suitable  to  its  successive  stages,  and  a 
proper  adaptation  of  the  latter  to  the  former. 

When  the  high-school  stage  arrives  a  radical  change  in  the  development 
of  the  pupil  is  at  hand.  New  ambitions  are  awakened.  The  old  routine,  for 
which  the  growing  child  has  a  very  hospitable  place  in  certain  periods  of  his 
unfolding,  has  become  inexpressibly  irksome.  Individual  initiative  succeeds 
imitation  or  obedience.  The  social  instincts  are  quickened.  Sentimental 


636 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


attachments  suddenly  blossom  out  with  exaggerated  efflorescence.  In  brief, 
the  multitudinous  phenomena  of  adolescence,  with  all  of  their  iridescent 
changes,  appear  and  childhood  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 

How  can  a  school  whose  main  prepossessions  are  in  the  directions  of 
childhood  meet  in  the  most  satisfactory  way  the  demands  of  a  school  whose 
most  absorbing  interests  should  be  in  the  unstable*  emotional,  transforming 
epoch  of  the  adolescent  ?  How  can  it  furnish  the  atmosphere  and  the  requi¬ 
site  guidance  for  two  such  dissimilar  stages  of  growth  when  each  seems  to 
demand,  in  the  interests  of  the  best  results,  the  exclusion  of  the  other  ?  Let 
us  remember  that  we  are  seeking  not  fairly  good  conditions,  but  the  best  condi¬ 
tions.  This  is  one  of  the  aspects  of  the  secondary  teacher’s  preparation  that 
the  normal  school  seems  not  well  fitted  to  give. 

But  the  intellectual  attitude  changes  quite  as  radically  as  the  emotional. 
The  teaching,  or  instruction,  must  be  greatly  modified  in  its  method.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  higher  grades  it  approaches  that  of  the  high  school,  but  in  the 
lower  grades  it  is  quite  radically  different.  Imagine  the  primary  teacher 
employing  the  Socratic  irony!  Yet  in  the  high  school  it  has  a  legitimate  place 
altho  not  a  prominent  one.  The  young  child  has  slight  critical  capacity  upon 
which  the  teacher  can  bank.  His  drawings  of  the  human  form  lack  necks 
and  attach  the  arms  to  the  side  of  the  head,  yet  they  do  not  ofi'end  his  notions 
of  accuracy.  The  high-school  pupil  needs  the  challenge,  the  cornering,  the 
defeat,  perhaps,  as  well  as  the  sympathetic  attitude  of  praise  and  agreement. 
He  has  found  footings  which  give  him  confidence  to  hold  his  own  against  the 
contention  of  a  teacher,  perhaps.  Scholarship  is  a  possible  passion  and  the 
subjects  of  instruction  more  and  more  absorb  his  mind.  The  studies  are  new 
and  demand  a  new  emphasis.  The  younger  child  is  chiefly  occupied  with  the 
individualism  of  the  world,  but  the  high-school  pupil  seeks  more  and  more  to 
find  the  unity  as  well  of  the  phenomena  of  the  world.  To  state  it  a  little 
differently,  the  high-school  age  is  the  stage  in  which  the  pupil  is  entering  upon 
the  epoch  of  conscious  reflection;  he  is  beginning  the  more  explicit  identifica¬ 
tion  of  himself  with  the  genius  of  the  modern  world,  which  is  essentially 
scientific.  These  epochs  of  growth  are  so  generally  recognized  that  I  need 
not  follow  this  line  of  thought  further  than  to  say  that  the  method  of  ob¬ 
servation  and  illustration  must  now  give  way  in  a  growing  degree  to 
the  method  of  demonstration  in  which  the  necessity  of  the  relations  is  made 
apparent. 

It  may  be  answered  that  the  normal  school  is  capable  of  adjusting  itself  to 
these  varying  conditions  by  organizing  separate  departments  which  shall 
not  overlap  each  other.  But  this  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  the  two 
classes  of  schools  may  exist  side  by  side  under  the  same  general  management. 
That  is  true  enough,  but  that  will  make  a  sort  of  university  of  the  normal 
school  and  there  will  be  necessitated  an  elaborate  and  distinct  equipment  for 
each.  As  there  must  be  a  training-school  for  the  elementary  teachers  so  there 
must  be,  for  the  highest  success,  a  parallel  opportunity  for  the  secondary 


Department]  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  FOR  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS  637 


teachers.  I  do  not  advocate  an  exact  parallel,  but  an  application  of  the  same 
general  principle. 

I  must  content  myself  with  one  additional  suggestion.  It  is  quite  possible 
for  the  normal  school  to  present  the  general  features  of  a  pedagogical  phi¬ 
losophy.  It  must  be  very  general,  however,  to  be  comprehended  by  all.  It 
may  be  carried  to  higher  and  higher  planes  as  the  ability  of  the  pupil  renders  it 
possible,  and  such  a  development  of  the  subject  is  extremely  valuable  in  toning 
up  the  general  character  of  the  institution.  But  each  subject  of  the  curriculum 
needs  a  method  treatment  which  unfolds  its  inherent  logic  and  its  adaptation  to 
the  needs  of  the  developing  pupil.  For  illustration,  arithmetic  must  be  studied 
from  a  new  point  of  view.  The  normal  student  had  his  last  contact  with  it  in 
the  grades  of  the  grammar  school  while  on  his  way  to  the  high  school.  He 
was  then  too  young  to  be  conscious  of  his  own  generalizations  or  to  rise  to  any 
just  conception  of  the  unifying  ideas  that  make  it  a  science.  The  subject 
must  be  re-examined  from  the  standpoint  of  its  logical  organization  so  that 
the  student  can  look  down  upon  it  as  it  emerges  in  all  of  its  seeming  complexity 
from  a  few  very  simple  principles.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  the  normal- 
school  people  when  they  declare  that  their  work  upon  the  subjects  of  the  course 
of  study  is  not  academic  but  professional. 

What  has  been  said  with  respect  to  arithmetic  is  to  be  considered  as  said 
with  regard  to  the  other  subjects  of  the  elementary  school.  But  the  subjects  of 
the  secondary  school  need  a  similar  treatment  and  such  a  suggestion  implies  an 
academic  preparation  that  a  college  course  will  barely  cover.  If  we  are  to  have 
really  superior  teachers  for  the  secondary  schools  we  must  not  be  satisfied  with 
anything  short  of  what  Germany  is  doing  for  her  schools  of  that  grade.  It  is 
absurd  to  expect  our  existing  normal  schools  to  accomplish  any  such  results. 
Meanwhile,  these  institutions  are  the  only  existing  agencies,  except  the  teach¬ 
ers’  colleges  and  pedagogical  departments  of  the  universities,  that  can  afford 
any  great  relief  at  present.  The  latter  are  so  few  in  number  that  they  can 
accommodate  very  few  relatively.  The  former  are  fewer  still  but  they  are 
having  a  profound  influence.  Until  the  present  ferment  shall  have  aroused 
the  public  mind  to  the  necessity  of  making  the  secondary  schools  as  attractive 
pecuniarily  as  the  colleges — and  why  should  they  not  be  ? — men  and  women 
of  superior  ability  and  preparation  will  not  select  them  for  life-work  except  in 
occasional  instances  where  principalships  pay  a  living  wage.  A  few  miles 
from  where  I  am  now  writing  is  a  township  high  school.  Its  principal  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University  and  of  an  excellent  Ohio 
college.  He  is  a  professional  teacher  in  all  that  the  name  implies,  and  the 
community  regards  him  as  a  good  bargain  at  something  like  thirty-five  hun¬ 
dred  dollars  a  year.  He  took  his  professional  course  before  his  college  course, 
but  he  served  a  long  apprenticeship  as  an  assistant  before  he  rose  to  the 
dignity  of  principal.  He  is  a  good  illustration  of  what  I  have  had  before  my 
mind  as  I  have  written  of  the  secondary  teacher  and  of  his  preparation,  altho 
there  should  be  an  educational  institution  which  could  do  for  him  in  two  or 


638 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


three  years  what  he  did  for  himself  in  several  times  two  or  three  years  while  he 
held  a  subordinate  position. 

I  have  made  an  incidental  reference  to  the  practice  school  as  a  feature  of 
the  institution  that  will  prepare  secondary  teachers.  Doubtless  the  work  of 
the  normal  student  in  actual  teaching  under  normal  conditions,  altho  done  in 
the  elementary  grades,  will  be  of  material  help  in  high  schools.  There  should 
be  an  opportunity  to  study  a  model  high  school  and  also  to  do  actual  teaching 
work  as  a  part  of  the  preparation  of  the  secondary  teachers,  however.  The 
problem  is  far  more  difficult  than  in  the  elementary  school  because  of  the 
greater  maturity  of  the  pupils  and  of  their  more  fully  developed  consciousness 
of  the  work  of  their  teachers.  It  can  be  done  and  well  done  if  deferred  until 
the  scholarship  and  maturity  of  the  teacher  are  of  such  a  quality  as  to  win  the 
confidence  of  the  pupils.  What  is  at  first  lacking  in  skill  can  be  compensated 
for  by  a  fine  culture  and  attractive  personal  qualities.  Persons  of  such  attain¬ 
ments  understand  the  meaning  of  criticism  and  accomplish  in  a  few  weeks 
under  such  conditions  what  would  otherwise  cost  months  or  even  years  of 
experience,  if  they  were  ever  able  to  achieve  it  at  all. 

I  have  not  dared  to  discuss  those  other  very  desirable  qualities -of  the  sec¬ 
ondary  teacher  which  are  matters  of  individual  personality  rather  than  the 
result  of  professional  training. 

My  conclusion  as  the  result  of  my  experience  and  study  is  that  the  normal 
school  as  generally  organized  at  present  is  not  the  best  possible  agency  for  the 
■preparation  of  secondary  teachers. 


XV  {special) 

PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  FOR  THE 
SECONDARY  SCHOOLS  OF  GERMANY 

CHARLES  DEGARMO,  PROFESSOR  OF  THE  SCIENCE  AND  ART  OF  EDUCATION, 

CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 

CONDITIONS  OF  ADMISSION  TO  EXAMINATIONS 

The  so-called  secondary  schools  of  Germany  cover  a  period  of  nine  years 
in  the  educational  life  of  the  student;  roughly  from  nine  or  ten  to  eighteen 
or  nineteen  years  of  age.  The  first  three  years  of  this  course  may  be  said 
to  belong  to  elementary,  the  next  four  years  to  secondary,  and  the  last  two 
years  to  higher  education.  To  be  trained  for  such  a  school,  the  candidate 
needs  the  professional  preparation  of  the  elementary,  the  high-school,  and  the 
college  teacher.  To  meet  such  conditions  the  Germans  divide  their  certifi¬ 
cates  in  the  various  subjects  into  first  and  second  and  third  grades,  the 
scope  of  which  will  be  explained  later. 

It  takes  some  sixty  closely-printed  pages  to  describe  all  the  requirements 
for  the  granting  of  these  certificates  in  Prussia  alone.  Many  of  them  relate 
to  social,  economic,  and  educational  conditions  which  find  no  counterpart 
among  us.  For  this  reason,  the  statement  of  what  is  required  in  the  German 


Department] 


SECONDARY  SCHOOLS  OF  GERMANY 


639 


professional  preparation  of  teachers  for  this  class  of  schools  may  be  greatly 
abridged. 

One  of  the  fixed  ideas  in  Germany  is  that  the  candidate  for  teaching  in  the 
higher  schools  must  first  be  brought  to  the  stage  of  productive  scholarship. 
Two  antecedent  conditions  are  therefore  prescribed  for  eligibility  for  the 
later  professional  examinations.  They  are  as  follows : 

1.  Graduation  from  the  full  course  of  a  Gymnasium^  a  Real  gymnasium  or 
an  Oberrealschule,  each  of  which  is  nine  years  long,  and  admits  to  the 
university. 

2.  Evidence  that  the  subjects  in  which  the  candidate  wishes  to  qualify 
have  been  studied  in  an  orderly  manner  for  at  least  three  years  in  a  university. 

When  these  and  a  few  other  minor  conditions  are  satisfactorily  met  the 
candidate  is  admitted  to  the  examinations  for  certification. 

THE  EXAMINATION  COMMISSIONS 

These  commissions  are  composed  mostly  of  university  professors,  together 
with  a  few  secondary  school  men,  all  of  whom  are  named  by  the  minister  of 
education  and  serve  for  one  year.  In  general,  there  is  a  commission  in  each 
university  town,  there  being  ten  of  these  bodies  in  Prussia.  The  candidate  is 
required  to  present  himself  before  either  the  commission  located  where  he 
spent  his  last  semester  of  university  residence,  he  having  already  completed 
one  other  term  there,  or  the  commission  in  the  district  where  he  proposes  to 
teach.  Provision  is  made  to  prevent  too  many  candidates  from  being  admitted 
in  any  one  district  by  transferring  their  applications  to  other  commissions,  and 
also  for  the  reception  of  candidates  coming  from  other  German  states  or 
foreign  countries. 

SCOPE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE  EXAMINATIONS 

The  examination  consists  of  two  parts,  one  general  and  one  special. 

The  general  subjects  are  philosophy,  pedagogy,  and  German  literature; 
also  for  those  who  expect  to  teach  religion,  the  doctrines  of  the  Evangelical  or 
of  the  Catholic  church. 

The  special  examination  is  upon  the  subjects  the  candidate  expects  to 
teach,  which  are  to  be  divided  into  majors  and  minors,  examination  in  at 
least  four  being  required. 

The  subjects  chosen  must  be  taken  in  the  following  combinations: 

Latin  and  Greek;  French  and  English;  history  and  geography;  religion 
and  Hebrew;  pure  mathematics  and  physics;  chemistry  with  mineralogy  and 
physics;  or,  instead  of  physics,  botany  and  zoology,  with  the  understanding 
that  German  may  take  the  place  of  either  of  the  subjects  in  the  first  three 
groups  or  of  Hebrew  in  the  fourth.  Applied  mathematics  is  also  a  subject 
for  examination,  to  be  preceded,  however,  by  pure  mathematics. 

The  minimum  requisite  for  any  kind  of  a  certificate  is  that  the  candidate 
shall  be  satisfactory  in  the  general  examination,  and  shall  obtain  first  rank  in 
at  least  one  subject  and  second  rank  in  at  least  two  of  the  others. 


640 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


First  rank  in  any  subject  entitles  the  holder  to  teach  it  thruout  the  nine 
grades  of  the  school.  The  holder  of  a  certificate  of  second  rank  in  any  subject 
is  entitled  to  teach  that  subject  only  thru  the  first  six  grades,  that  is,  up  to  and 
including  unter  secunda. 

It  is  in  general  expected  that  the  candidate  will  select  at  least  two  majors 
and  two  minors.  He  may,  however,  select  more  of  either  or  both,  supple¬ 
mentary  examinations  being  subsequently  allowed  in  order  to  enable 
him  to  extend  the  range  of  subjects  he  is  certificated  to  teach.  Dean 
Russell  states  that  few  teachers  ever  secure  first  rank  for  more  than  three 
subjects. 

Both  the  general  and  the  special  examinations  are  partly  written  and 
partly  oral.  The  written  work,  however,  is  quite  unlike  the  sort  we  are 
accustomed  to  in  this  country,  for  it  is  prepared  at  home  in  the  form  of  essays 
with  full  liberty  to  use  books  to  any  extent  desired.  Only  personal  assistance 
is  forbidden. 

One  essay  is  upon  some  theme  in  philosophy  or  education;  other  essays 
are  upon  themes  selected  from  the  candidate’s  major  subjects.  Six  weeks  are 
allowed  for  each  essay,  with  a  possible  extension  of  the  time  to  six  weeks  more. 
In  this  written  work  the  design  is  to  test  the  sufficiency  of  the  applicant’s 
knowledge,  the  adequacy  of  his  judgment,  and  to  show  whether  or  not  he  is 
capable  of  a  logically  arranged,  clearly  and  adequately  expressed  exposition 
of  the  subject  in  hand. 

In  the  oral  examination  upon  the  general  subjects,  the  following  points  are 
to  be  established: 

1.  In  religion,  whether  or  not  the  candidate  shows  himself  well  acquainted 
with  the  content  and  connection  of  Holy  Writ,  has  a  general  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  the  Christian  church,  and  knows  the  chief  doctrines  of  its  confession. 

2.  Whether  or  not  in  philosophy  he  is  acquainted  with  the  important  facts 
of  its  history,  with  the  important  doctrines  of  logic  and  psychology;  and  also 
whether  he  has  read  one  of  the  more  important  philosophical  masterpieces 
with  comprehension,  such  as  Locke’s  Essay  Concerning  Human  Understand¬ 
ing,  Berkeley’s  Principles  oj  Human  Knowledge,  Kant’s  Critique  of  Pure 
Reason,  or  Schopenhauer’s  Die  Welt  als  Wille  und  V or stellung. 

3.  In  pedagogy,  whether  or  not  he  has  grasped  its  philosophical  basis, 
knows  the  important  stages  of  its  historical  development  since  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  possesses  some  understanding  of  the  problems  of  his  future 
calling. 

4.  In  German  literature,  the  examination  is  to  show  whether  or  not  he  is 
acquainted  with  its  general  development,  especially  since  the  beginning  of  its 
springtime  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  that  since  leaving  school  he  has 
read  with  understanding  its  more  important  works. 

Needless  to  say,  the  oral  examinations  in  the  subject-matter  to  be  taught 
are  the  most  searching  and  thorogoing  of  all.  The  candidate  need  not  expect 
that  the  examiners  will  not  sound  all  the  depths  and  shallows  of  his  knowledge. 


Department] 


SECONDARY  SCHOOLS  OF  GERMANY 


641 


An  idea  of  the  range  of  the  examination  may  be  gained  by  the  prescriptions 
for  those  who  would  teach  English. 

As  a  preliminary  the  candidate  must  show  that  he  has  a  good  elementary 
knowledge  of  Latin  and  can  correctly  translate  the  easier  writers,  like  Caesar, 
at  sight.  Then  come  the  regular  requirements,  as  follows : 

1.  For  the  second  grade:  Knowledge  of  the  elements  of  phonetics,  correct 
and  ready  pronunciation;  acquaintance  with  the  etymology  and  syntax  of  the 
grammar;  possession  of  a  sufficient  vocabulary  of  words  and  phrases  and  con¬ 
siderable  practice  in  the  use  of  the  speech;  outline  of  the  course  of  develop¬ 
ment  of  English  literature  since  Shakspere  and  reading  knowledge  of  the 
important  poetic  and  prose  writings  of  recent  times;  capacity  for  facile  trans¬ 
lation  of  well-known  authors  into  German,  and  the  power  to  compose  in 
English  without  gross  errors. 

2.  For  the  first  grade:  Oral  and  \vritten  use  of  the  language,  not  only 
with  the  grammatical  accuracy  arising  from  scientific  grounding  in  the  gram¬ 
mar,  but  also  with  more  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  vocabulary  and 
idioms,  as  well  as  a  capacity  to  use  them  with  a  facility  adequate  to  the  demands 
of  instruction;  general  knowledge  of  the  historical  development  of  the  lan¬ 
guage  from  the  old  English  period;  knowledge  of  the  development  of  the 
literature  united  with  a  thoro  reading  of  a  number  of  eminent  writings  from 
the  earlier  periods  to  the  present;  insight  into  the  laws  of  English  versifica¬ 
tion,  both  in  early  and  in  late  periods;  acquaintance  with  the  history  of 
England,  as  well  as  with  the  proper  exposition  of  texts  in  use  in  schools. 

It  is  remarked  that  an  especially  excellent  knowledge  of  modern  English 
literature  or  an  unusual  mastery  of  the  tongue  as  now  used,  may  be 
accepted  in  lieu  of  corresponding  deficiencies  in  any  of  the  foregoing 
requirements. 

Should  a  successful  candidate  receive  third  grade  in  any  subject,  he  is 
permitted  to  teach  this  subject  only  in  the  first  three  grades  of  the  school,  i.  e., 
in  the  elementary  classes. 

The  final  certificate  covering  the  various  subjects  is  ranked  according  to 
the  number  of  first-,  second-,  or  third-grade  ratings  received. .  A  first-rank 
certificate  means  that  the  holder  has  received  upon  examination  either  two 
majors  of  first  grade  and  two  minors  of  second  grade,  or  two  majors  and  one 
minor  of  first  grade,  and  it  entitles  him  to  future  appointment  to  the  position 
of  head  teacher,  with  the  title  of  professor. 

A  second-rank  certificate  means  that  the  holder  has  not  reached  the 
minimum  above  described,  and  that  he  will  be  restricted  to  the  position  of 
ordinary  teacher  {Oberlehrer).  (See  Russell,  Gerinan  Higher  Education , 
PP-  352-369-) 

Arrangement  is  made  for  various  supplementary  examinations  to  make  up 
deficiencies. 

It  requires  at  least  a  year  after  leaving  the  university  to  prepare  for  and 
pass  these  various  written  and  oral  examinations. 


642 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


THE  SEMINARY  WORK 

After  all  examinations  are  out  of  the  way,  the  candidate  is  required  to  pass 
one  year  in  so-called  seminary  training,  either  at  one  of  the  twelve  state  semi¬ 
naries  for  this  purpose,  or  at  some  one  of  those  established  at  Gymnasiums  and 
Real  gymnasiums  by  the  rescript  of  1890.  From  three  to  seven  candidates 
successful  in  the  examinations  constitute  the  students  in  a  given  seminary  for 
the  year.  They  are  under  the  charge  of  the  director  and  one  or  two  of  his 
ablest  teachers.  The  aim  is  to  make  the  candidate  thoroly  acquainted  with 
the  work  of  the  school  with  which  the  seminary  is  connected,  and  to  give  him 
opportunity  to  do  some  trial  teaching  under  the  guidance  and  criticism  of  the 
director  and  his  chosen  assistants.  The  first  quarter-year  is  spent  in  obser¬ 
vation  in  all  classes  and  in  all  subjects.  During  the  second  quarter  he  makes 
his  first  attempts  at  teaching  according  to  the  directions  of  the  leaders  in 
charge.  From  these  beginnings  he  gradually  enlarges  his  teaching-sphere 
until  he  gives  lessons  during  the  whole  hour,  and  often  for  a  succession  of 
hours,  but  always  under  the  inspection  of  one  of  the  regular  teachers.  The 
candidates  are  also  intrusted  with  the  examination  of  written  work  of  the 
various  classes.  The  instruction  in  any  given  subject  closes  with  a  sample 
lesson,  at  which  the  other  candidates,  the  director,  and  the  other  teachers  are 
present.  Following  this  lesson  at  a  suitable  time  there  is  a  critical  discussion 
of  its  merits  and  defects.  At  least  two  hours  a  week  must  be  devoted  to  a 
session  with  the  candidates,  usually  led  by  the,  director.  There  is  much 
latitude  allowed  as  to  the  choice  and  treatment  of  subjects  at  these  sessions. 
Formal  reports  are  relieved  by  informal  discussions. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  the  candidate  hands  in  a  somewhat  extensive 
essay  upon  some  concrete  pedagogical  or  didactic  problem  assigned  by  the 
director.  At  the  end  of  the  year  the  director  sends  to  the  provincial  school 
board  an  elaborate  report  of  the  year’s  work.  Upon  the  basis  of  this  report, 
together  with  the  results  of  previous  examinations,  the  board  admits  the 
candidate  to  his  final  test,  the  year  of  cadet  teaching  in  some  Gymnasium  to 
which  he  shall  be  assigned.  This  is  called  the  Probejahr. 

THE  YEAR  OF  CADET  TEACHING 
Das  Probejahr 

For  the  year  of  trial  teaching  the  candidates  are  assigned  in  pairs  to  the 
various  Gymnasiums  or  Oberrealschulen,  when  they  teach  from  eight  to  ten 
hours  per  week  under  the  guidance  of  older  teachers.  They  must  do  a  certain 
amount  of  supervision,  attend  faculty  meetings  and  identify  themselves  in 
every  way  with  the  life  of  the  school. 

Up  to  the  end  of  this  year  they  have  received  no  pay  whatever,  but  if  their 
record  is  approved  at  the  end  of  the  trial  year,  their  names  are  enrolled  on  the 
list  of  teachers  eligible  to  appointment  in  the  higher  schools  of  the  province. 
When  so  appointed  they  are  teachers  and  state  officers  for  life,  assured  that 


Department] 


SECONDARY  SCHOOLS  OF  GERMANY 


643 


with  reasonable  diligence  they  will  have  employment  so  long  as  they  are  able 
to  work  and  then — a  pension  for  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 

COMMENTS 

That  all  teachers  in  German  secondary  schools  are  men  is  a  well-known 
fact.  It  may  well  cause  astonishment  in  the  United  States  where  the  number 
of  men  teachers  not  only  shows  no  proportional  increase,  but  suffers  rather 
an  absolute  annual  decrease,  that  any  country  can  by  any  possibility  induce 
enough  men  of  approved  quality  to  meet  conditions  so  strenuous  as  to  knowl¬ 
edge  and  professional  training.  The  minimum  is  as  follows:  three  years  in 
the  primary  schools,  nine  in  the  Gymnasium,  three  in  the  university,  one  in 
examinations,  one  in  the  seminary,  and  one  in  trial  teaching — eighteen  years 
in  all,  not  to  speak  of  the  one  year  of  military  training  exacted  of  all  able-bodied 
young  men.  Yet  the  seminary  year  was  added  in  1890,  not  so  much  that  there 
might  be  more  training,  as  that  there  might  be  fewer  candidates. 

To  understand  a  situation  like  this,  one  must  bear  several  facts  in 
mind. 

In  the  first  place,  the  secondary  schools  are  not  democratic  in  our  sense  of 
the  term,  for  the  common  schools,  in  which  nine-tenths  of  the  children  of 
Germany  are  found,  do  not  open  into  them  at  all.  The  Gymnasiums  and  hence 
the  universities  exist  therefore  not  for  the  people  as  a  whole,  but  for  the 
education  to  those  who  form  the  professional  and  official  classes.  As  a  rule, 
it  does  not  occur  to  a  German  university  graduate  that  he  might  go  into  indus¬ 
trial  life,  and  even  if  the  idea  did  occur  to  him,  it  would  soon  be  dismissed,  for 
his  training  has  been  professional  and  leaves  him  unfitted  for  success  in  any 
other  field.  Broadly  speaking,  there  is  nothing  for  the  German  university 
graduate  to  do  except  to  practice  the  profession  for  which  he  has  been  trained. 
If  this  chances  to  be  teaching,  a  teacher  he  must  be — or  nothing. 

If  now  it  should  be  the  case  that  candidates  for  the  professions,  teaching 
included,  should  increase  faster  than  the  population  increases,  it  may  easily  be 
seen  that  what  Bismarck  called  an  educated  proletariat  would  be  formed. 
That  is,  a  class  of  men  who  have  their  skill  and  nothing  else  to  offer,  and  who 
might,  indeed,  become  Hungercandidaten.  ^ 

What  are  the  facts?  In  the  period  from  1851  to  1861  the  number  of 
students  in  the  German  universities  was  335  to  each  million  inhabitants.  This 
ratio  remained  substantially  unaltered  until  1871.  From  1871  to  1876  the 
number  rose  to  386.  From  this  time  on,  the  development  has  been  rapid. 
By  the  end  of  the  year  1880  the  number  of  students  had  risen  from  13,029  in 
1836  to  28,861.  By  the  end  of  1890  the  number  had  risen  to  32,756,  and  by 
1905  had  reached  a  total  of  42,435,  or  over  705  per  million  inhabitants.  This 
means  that  during  the  last  thirty  years  the  attendance  at  the  universities  has 
grown  twice  as  fast  as  the  population,  and  that  consequently  the  demand  for 
places  in  civil  offices,  in  law,  medicine,  theology,  and  teaching  has  enormously 
increased.  There  are  in  general  two  applicants  for  every  place,  and,  further- 


644 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


more,  a  class  of  applicants  who  must  have  the  kind  of  places  they  have  been 
prepared  for,  since  they  are  unfitted  for  anything  else. 

In  American  universities  at  present  it  is  difficult  to  get  good  men  to  con¬ 
sider  teaching  as  a  career,  the  transition  to  industrial  life  being  so  easy  and 
its  prospective  monetary  rewards  so  attractive.  That  we  could  successfully 
impose  the  German  conditions  for  entrance  upon  the  work  of  high-school 
teaching  is  not  to  be  imagined.  Few  men  would  apply,  and  the  public  would 
revolt  in  the  case  of  women. 

Furthermore,  we  have  no  means  for  carrying  out  any  general  system  of 
cadet  teaching,  since  local  autonomy  would  place  this  matter  at  the  individual 
disposition  of  the  various  school  boards.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  we 
could  not  by  some  system  of  benefits  to  individual  and  community  induce 
high  schools  to  undertake  this  much  needed  work.  Candidates  would  serve 
for  little  or  no  salary,  if  only  they  were  assured  of  a  reasonable  expectation  of 
employment  at  the  close  of  their  cadetship,  while  school  boards  would  consent 
to  this  arrangement  if  it  were  evident  that  on  the  whole  the  schools  and  the 
community  would  thereby  be  educationally  benefitted. 


XVI  {special) 

THE  PRESENT  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY 

SCHOOLS 

.EDWIN  G.  DEXTER,  PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION,  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

The  task  assigned  to  me  in  the  preparation  of  this  general  report  is  one 
with  easily  defined  limits.  It  is  a  study  of  fact  pure  and  simple,  entirely  free 
from  speculation  with  intent  to  discover  the  facilities  for  pedagogical  instruc¬ 
tion  within  the  colleges  and  universities  of  our  country.  If  we  are  to  accept 
the  rapidly  growing  feeling  that  these  are  the  only  educational  institutions 
adequately  equipped  in  their  academic  and  scientific  departments  for  the 
preparation  of  teachers  for  secondary  schools,  the  study  is  one  of  the  profes¬ 
sional  preparation  of  these  teachers. 

The  sources  of  information  are  threefold: 

1.  Recent  reports  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education. 

2.  College  and  university  catalogs  as  well  as  special  reports  of  all  sorts  from  those 
institutions. 

3.  A  considerable  mass  of  correspondence  with  various  college  officers,  mostly  pro¬ 
fessors  of  education. 

I 

From  the  study  of  the  first  of  these  sources  of  information  it  was  found 
that  219  colleges  and  universities  reported  {Rep.,  1904)  students  enrolled  in 
courses  in  pedagogy.  The  merest  inspection  of  the  list  convinces  one  of  its 
inexactness  since  several  having  successful  departments  of  education  are  not 
included.  Such  institutions  are,  however,  included  within  the  study.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  careful  study  of  the  catalogs  of  the  institutions  named  in  the 
commissioner’s  report  discloses  the  fact  that  21  of  the  number  make  no  mention 


Department] 


645 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 
- - - 

of  any  pedagogical  offerings.  An  attempt  was  made,  thru  correspondence 
when  necessary",  to  secure  the  catalogs  of  all  the  219  institutions  mentioned, 
tho  without  success  in  50  instances. 

Of  the  169  institutions  whose  catalogs  were  studied  a  limited  number  (16) 
offered  so-called  “teachers’  courses”  in  specific  subjects,  as  Latin,  English,  or 
mathematics,  w’hich  were  plainly  but  rapid  reviews,  useful  as  “cramming” 
courses  for  teachers’  examinations;  but  since  no  offerings  were  made  along 
strictly  pedagogical  lines,  these  were  omitted  from  the  study.  A  few  institu¬ 
tions  mentioned  by  the  Commissioner  are  special  schools  for  the  deaf  or  blind 
and  were  excluded  as  plainly  beyond  the  scope  of  this  paper. 

With  such  substraction  and  with  the  addition  of  institutions  known  to  offer 
courses  in  pedagogy,  but  not  mentioned  in  the  list,  we  have  as  the  basis  of  this 
report  148  colleges  and  universities  of  widely  varying  educational  merit  and 
elaboration  of  organization. 

A  considerable  number  of  these  institutions,  altho  classed  by  the  Com¬ 
missioner  as  “higher,”  offer  academic  and  scientific  courses  scarcely  higher 
in  grade  than  those  of  the  sophomore  year  of  the  better  universities  and  per¬ 
haps  theoretically  should  be  excluded  from  this  study.  Practically,  however, 
they  must  be  included  since  they  are  the  sources  of  supply  for  the  teaching 
force  of  the  secondary  schools  tributary  to  them. 

In  the  statistical  study  of  these  institutions  immediately  following,  made 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  in  a  general  way  the  facilities  for  pedagogical  instruc¬ 
tion,  the  following  facts  are  presented: 

1.  Number  of  instructors  of  professional  rank  offering  pedagogical  courses. 

2.  Number  of  instructors  of  lesser  rank  offering  such  courses. 

3.  Number  of  instructors  of  both  these  classes  who  are  also  officially  connected  wdth 
other  departments  of  instruction. 

4.  Total  number  of  pedagogical  courses  offered. 

5.  A  rough  classification  of  such  courses,  (a)  Courses  in  educational  philosophy. 
(&)  History  of  education,  (c)  Administration  and  method,  (d)  Educational  psychology 
(where  these  courses  are  not  offered  in  the  department  of  education  or  pedagogy  but  by  a 
separate  psychological  faculty  they  are  not  included),  {e)  Observation  and  practice 
teaching.  (/)  Seminars,  {g)  School  hygiene,  (h)  School  law. 

By  the  term  “course”  is  meant  the  offering  of  a  single  subject  for  one 
term.  For  the  purpose  of  this  study  it  was  deemed  inadvisable  to  take  into 
consideration,  either  the  varying  lengths  of  courses  (usually  either  two  or 
three  to  the  college  year)  or  the  varying  number  of  exercises  per  week.  To 
have  done  so  would,  in  some  ways,  have  increased  its  value  but  only  at  the 
cost  of  very  greatly  increased  complication. 

The  question  of  classification  of  subjects  under  a  reasonable  number  of  heads 
was  not  an  easy  one  to  settle.  More  than  one  hundred  different  statements 
of  courses  were  found.  Whether  the  classification  I  have  used  is  the  best 
possible  I  should  not  wish  to  say.  I  am,  however,  stating  it  with  sufficient 
detail  to  make  it  ful  y  understood : 


646 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


Class  A:  All  courses  of  a  general  philosophical  nature.  These  are  frequently  under 
the  title  “Philosophy  of  Education.”  Courses  entitled  “ Principles  of  Education”  are  also 
included  when  from  the  description  it  is  plain  that  the  emphasis  is  on  the  philosophical 
side;  “Educational  Classics”  when  the  emphasis  is  not  on  the  historical  side.  Courses 
in  the  philosophy  of  particular  educators,  as  Herbart,  Rousseau,  Froebel,  etc. 

Class  B;  All  general  courses  in  the  history  of  education.  All  special  studies  of  the 
schools  of  particular  periods  or  countries  except  those  in  present  organization  and  methods. 
Educational  classics  when  the  emphasis  is  historical. 

Class  C:  A  very  wide  range  of  courses  is  covered  by  this  group.  Roughly,  they  may 
be  divided  into  two  divisions:  (i)  courses  in  organization  and  administration;  (2)  courses 
in  methods  of  teaching,  either  general  or  in  the  teaching  of  particular  subjects.  Under 
the  first  division  are  the  following:  School  organization,  general  pedagogy  (not  theoretical), 
school  administration,  the  present  organization  of  foreign  school  systems,  etc.  Under  the 
second  division  comes  general  method  and  all  courses  in  the  teaching  of  special  subjects, 
as  Latin,  mathematics,  etc.  These  courses  are  frequently  offered  by  instructors  in  other 
departments  than  that  of  education. 

Class  D:  No  courses  in  psychology  were  included  which  had  not  plainly  a  pedagogical 
application.  Among  those  covered  are  the  following:  Educational  psychology,  genetic 
psychology,  child-study. 

Class  E:  These  courses  are  fully  discussed  later  in  this  report. 

Class  F:  This  group  of  courses  were  plainly  for  advanced  students.  Educational 
philosophy,  history,  and  administration  are  included  tho  the  latter  predominates.  The 
titles  of  the  other  two  divisions  are  sufficiently  expressive  and  need  no  explanation. 

In  the  tabulation  of  data  everything  is  excluded  which  applies  specifically 
to  the  work  of  the  elementary  schools.  Wdiatever  applies  to  school  in  general 
or  to  secondary  schools  is  retained.  The  University  of  Chicago  and  Columbia 
University  offer  many  courses  in  elementary-school  training,  and  many  of  the 
smaller  colleges  offer  some  work  that  must  be  excluded  for  the  same  reason. 
Such  subjects  as  manual  training,  music,  drawing,  household  science,  physical 
education  are  not  included  because  adequate  data  are  obtainable  from  very 
few  institutions. 

The  facts  disclosed  by  the  study  of  the  148  colleges  and  universities  are  as 
follows:  Within  them  357  different  instructors  offer  courses  of  a  pedagogical 
character.  Of  that  number  of  instructors  278  are  of  professional  rank.  That 
so  large  a  number  are  of  this  rank  is  due  to  the  fact  that  within  the  smaller 
institutions,  w^hich  predominate  in  the  list,  there  are  but  comparatively  few 
officers  of  a  lower  grade. 

Of  the  entire  number  of  instructors  (357)  278  are  officially  connected  with 
other  departments  in  which  they  also  give  instruction.  This  fact  is  also 
largely  due  to  conditions  in  the  smaller  institutions  in  which  the  pedagogical 
instruction  is  frequently  given  by  the  professor  of  philosophy.  The  custom 
too,  even  in  the  larger  institutions,  of  having  the  courses  in  special  methods 
given  by  instructors  in  the  academic  and  scientific  departments,  is  of  influence 
here. 

The  total  number  of  courses  of  the  nature  covered  by  the  classification 
already  given  was  found  to  be  935.  The  classification  of  these  coursds  is  as 
follows : 


Department] 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 


647 


Schools 

Courses 

Per  Cent,  of 
Total  Number  of 
Courses 

Class  A  (philosophical) 

37 

74 

8 

Class  B  (historical) 

123 

196 

21.2 

Class  C  (organization  and  method)  148 

469 

50-7 

Class  D  (psychological) 

47 

93 

9-8 

Class  E  (observation  and  practice) 
Class  F  (seminars) 

in  36  schools. 
27 

70 

7.6 

Class  G  (school  hygiene) 

15 

20 

2 . 2 

Class  H  (school  law) 

13 

13 

1.4 

The  exact  nature  of  the  work  done  in  the  particular  subjects  covered  by 
this  classification  it  is  not  easy  to  determine,  either  by  the  printed  catalogs 
or  correspondence.  In  the  smaller  institutions  it  is  almost  entirely  thru  the 
use  of  the  textbook,  and  in  the  larger  ones  mainly  so.  In  the  former  the 
single  course  offered  is  usually  designated  as  “pedagogy”  or  “school  manage¬ 
ment.”  The  number  of  institutions  offering  courses  in  class  A  is  largely 
augmented  by  a  requirement  of  the  Kansas  law  to  the  effect  that  all  candi¬ 
dates  for  the  teacher’s  certificate  must  be  proficient  in  the  philosophy  of  educa¬ 
tion.  That  being  the  case,  all  of  the  colleges  of  the  state  offer  that  subject. 
For  class  E  (observation  and  practice)  it  was  impossible  to  determine  even  the 
number  of  courses  offered  since  the  work  is  so  often  done  in  connection  with 
other  definite  offerings. 

The  following  institutions,  however,  profess  to  offer  some  facilities  for  the 
work.  Just  what  is  done  in  some  of  these  institutions  is  shown  later  in  ihis 
report. 


Berea  College 
Brown  University 
Bethany  College  (Kan.) 
University  of  Colorado 
Columbia  University 
University  of  Chicago 
Cornell  College 
Drake  University 
Fisk  University 
Howard  University 
University  of  Idaho 
University  of  Illinois 
Iowa  Wesleyan  University 
Knox  CoUege 
Kentucky  State  College 
University  of  Missouri 
University  of  Nebraska 


University  of  Nashville 
University  of  Nevada 
Ohio  State  University 
University  of  Rochester 
Roger  Williams  Universitv 
Syracuse  University 
Throop  Polytechnic  Institute 
Union  College  (Neb.) 
University  of  Utah 
University  of  Washington 
University  of  Wisconsin 
West  Virginia  University 
Western  Reserve  University 
New  York  University 
Dartmouth  College 
Harvard  University 
Nebraska  Wesleyan  University 


The  following  table  shows  with  some  detail  the  conditions  of  pedagogical 
instruction  for  a  selected  list  of  colleges  and  universities  taken  from  the  larger 
list  of  148.  Only  those  institutions  were  included  for  which  conditions  could 
be  fairly  well  determined.  Any  inaccuracies  may  be  ascribed  to  the  difficulty 
of  classifying  the  offerings. 


648 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


TABLE  I 


Schools 

Total  Number  Instructors 

in  Education 

Professors 

Instructors,  Assistant  and 

Associate  Professors 

No.  of  Professors  Who  Offer 

Courses  in  Other  Dep’ts 

Total  Number  of  Courses 

Offered 

Philosophy  of  Education 

History  of  Education 

Administration  Method, 

Management,  Pedagogy 

Educational  Psychology, 

Child-Study 

Seminars  in  Education 

School  Hygiene 

School  Law 

Observation  and  Practice 

Elementary  Schools,  Manu¬ 

al  Training 

Harvard  University . 

2 

I 

I 

6 

I 

2 

3 

yes 

University  of  Illinois . 

19 

13 

6 

16 

35 

2 

4 

21 

,  , 

6 

I 

I 

yes 

6 

University  of  Michigan . 

14 

14 

•  . 

II 

23 

3 

2 

15 

I 

2 

,  , 

,  , 

•  . 

University  of  Missouri . 

II 

8 

3 

9 

26 

6 

17 

3 

,  , 

yes 

8 

University  of  Iowa . 

6 

3 

3 

2 

19 

2 

4 

8 

I 

4 

no 

,  , 

New  York  University . 

5 

.  , 

12 

I 

2 

5 

2 

2 

,  , 

,  , 

4 

University  of  Chicago . 

21 

9 

12 

18 

48 

4 

7 

27 

5 

3 

2 

yes 

42 

Columbia  University . 

24 

20 

4 

17 

92 

7 

8 

55 

8 

12 

2 

yes 

44 

University  of  Washington . 

I 

I 

•  . 

.  , 

7 

I 

I 

4 

I 

yes 

University  of  Nebraska . 

12 

6 

6 

9 

29 

2 

4 

15 

4 

3 

I 

yes 

7 

University  of  California . 

II 

3 

8 

8 

28 

I 

6 

13 

4 

3 

I 

yes 

I 

University  of  Colorado . 

4 

3 

I 

,  . 

10 

,  , 

2 

5 

I 

2 

,  , 

no 

,  , 

Leland  Stanford  Jr.  Univ . 

9 

3 

6 

6 

16 

I 

2 

10 

2 

I 

yes 

University  of  Rochester . 

2 

2 

2 

2 

I 

I 

ves 

Dartmouth  College . 

2 

I 

I 

2 

3 

•  . 

I 

I 

I 

yes 

,  , 

University  of  Wisconsin . 

6 

3 

3 

5 

14 

2 

3 

5 

3 

I 

yes 

4 

Indiana  University . 

3 

3 

,  , 

3 

6 

,  , 

I 

3 

I 

I 

no 

Ohio  State  University . 

7 

5 

2 

5 

16 

3 

8 

2 

I 

no 

West  Virginia  University . 

8 

4 

I 

.  . 

15 

I 

4 

4 

I 

5 

yes 

University  of  Texas . 

4 

2 

2 

I 

10 

I 

I 

4 

3 

I 

no 

Brown  University . 

I 

I 

,  , 

,  , 

IS 

,  , 

2 

8 

I 

3 

I 

yes 

University  of  Minnesota . 

32 

25 

7 

29 

22 

I 

3 

15 

I 

•  • 

•  • 

OBSERVATION  AND  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

'  The  normal  schools  of  the  country  have,  from  their  inception,  been  cen¬ 
tered  very  largely  in  the  practice  school.  On  the  other  hand,  university 
departments  of  education  have  developed  the  instructional  and  theoretical 
sides  first  and  are  only  just  now  beginning  to  give  adequate  attention  to  the 
practice  school.  It  is  probably  truer  than  many  of  us  would  wish  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  that  it  is  as  yet  largely  on  paper.  The  following  pages,  setting  forth 
with  some  detail  the  observation  and  practice  facilities  in  a  considerable  number 
of  institutions,  were  taken,  in  some  part,  from  their  printed  announcements 
but  more  largely  from  correspondence  with  officers  of  the  various  departments 
of  education. 

The  University  of  California  and  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University  are 
required  by  state  law  to  give  training  in  observation  and  practice  to  matricu¬ 
lants  for  the  state  certificate;  “at  least  one-third  of  the  prescribed  work  in 
education  shall  consist  of  actual  teaching  in  a  well-equipped  training-school 
of  secondary  grade  directed  by  the  department  of  education.”  This  law  went 
into  effect  June,  1906. 

The  University  of  California  has  been  doing  this  for  some  years,  using  the 
city  schools  as  a  medium.  So  far  the  work  has  been  chiefly  in  the  grades. 
The  university  will  soon  maintain  a  high  school  of  its  o^vn.  Temporarily 
the  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University  will  arrange  for  practice  w'ork  in  the  San 
Jose  Normal  School. 

Brown  University  possesses  excellent  facilities  for  the  practical  training  of 


Department] 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 


649 


teachers  thru  an  arrangement  with  the  school  authorities  of  the  city  of  Provi¬ 
dence.  Practice  teaching  is  done  under  the  supervision  of  the  director  of  the 
training-department  of  the  Providence  High  Schools,  who  is  also  the  pro¬ 
fessor  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  education  at  Brown  University.  The 
director  confers  with  the  principals  of  the  high  schools  and  the  supervising 
teacher  as  to  the  arrangement  of  hours  and  classes  assigned  to  the  student 
teachers.  He  visits  these  classes  frequently  and  confers  with  the  prin¬ 
cipal  in  cases  of  discipline  arising  in  connection  with  the  work  of  student 
teachers. 

The  director  nominates  supervising  teachers  from  the  regular  teachers 
employed  in  the  high  schools.  The  nominations  must  be  approved  by  the 
committee  on  high  schools  in  order  to  become  valid.  The  university  pays 
each  supervising  teacher  fifty  dollars  for  each  student  teacher  of  the  first 
type  assigned  to  such  supervisor  for  full  time.  Any  supervising  teacher  is 
entitled  to  free  instruction  at  Brown  University,  tho  the  courses  taken  may  not 
count  toward  a  degree  unless  tuition  is  paid. 

Students  who  wish  to  be  enrolled  as  student  teachers  must  hold  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts  or  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Pedagogy  from  some  reputable 
institution.  They  must  be  satisfactory  to  the  superintendent  of  public  schools 
and  to  the  professor  of  education  of  Brown  University.  They  must  take  cer¬ 
tain  prescribed  courses  in  education  at  Brown  University  and  such  courses  may 
count  toward  the  Master’s  degree.  Those  who  complete  their  work  in  the 
schools  and  in  the  college  receive  a  teacher’s  diploma  from  the  university. 
Weakness  in  discipline  or  in  scholarship  is  sufficient  cause  for  withholding 
the  diploma. 

Each  year  the  committee  on  high  schools  appoints  at  least  six  student 
teachers  (usually  three  of  each  sex),  from  a  list  of  candidates  who  have  fulfilled 
the  requirements  for  student  teachers  in  general.  These  students  are  termed 
student  teachers  of  the  first  class.  The  city  pays  them  four  hundred  dollars  a 
year  for  their  services  and  they  are  subject  to  the  same  regulations  as  the 
regular  teachers  except  as  to  the  amount  of  work  they  are  required  to  do. 
Their  work  is  arranged  in  accordance  with  the  plan  adopted  by  the  committee 
on  high  schools. 

Student  teachers  of  the  second  class  serve  without  compensation.  They 
must  do  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  hours’  observation  and  indi¬ 
vidual  instruction  under  the  supervision  of  competent  teachers.  The  plan 
of  their  work  is  determined  by  the  superintendent  of  public  schools  and  the 
professor  of  education.  The  university  requirements  are  the  same  as  for 
student  teachers  of  the  first  class.  When  they  have  received  the  teacher’s 
diploma  they  have  the  same  status  before  the  committee  on  high  schools  as  if 
they  had  been  student  teachers  of  the  first  type.  In  the  appointment  of  regular 
teachers  of  the  first  grade,  preference  is  given  to  those  who  have  completed 
this  course  of  training. 

The  University  of  Wisconsin  offers  no  specific  work  in  practice  teaching 


650 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


tho  the  department  of  German  makes  some  provision  for  such  work  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  elementary  classes  in  that  language. 

At  Dartmouth  College  the  professor  of  education  and  the  graduate  students 
in  education  spend  one  week  each  year  visiting  the  high  schools  of  Boston. 
Students  are  also  urged  to  visit  the  local  high  school.  A  number  of  students 
are  employed  as  substitute  teachers  in  the  Hanover  schools  and  a  number 
assist  in  different  college  courses.  Such  work  is  carried  on  in  connection  with 
the  graduate  courses  which  such ‘students  are  pursuing. 

The  University  of  Rochester  does  not  attempt  to  give  opportunity  for 
practice  teaching,  tho  the  students  in  one  of  the  Latin  courses  occasionally 
conduct  the  recitation  of  the  class.  Most  of  the  students  who  intend  to  teach 
are  given  positions  in  the  city  evening  schools,  wLere  they  w'ork  under  expert 
supervision.  Some  of  the  w‘ork  in  the  evening  schools  is  superintended  by 
instructors  from  the  university.  The  university  furnishes  substitute  teachers 
for  the  day  high  schools. 

AtHarvard  University  all  students  in  course  “Education  3”  must  visit  schools 
regularly  the  first  half-year  and  they  must  make  weekly  reports  of  these  visits. 
The  reports  are  vTitten  and  are  at  first  made  to  cover  a  wdde  range;  later 
they  must  cover  the  field  of  work  of  special  interest  to  the  individual  student. 
During  the  first  half-year  the  students  visit  and  report  on  the  work  in  every 
grade  from  the  primary  school  thru  the  high  school.  During  the  second 
half-year  the  inexperienced  students  of  the  course  teach  for  practice  in  the 
upper  grammar  grades  and  in  the  high  schools  of  Cambridge,  Newton,  Brook¬ 
line,  and  Medford;  each  student,  teaching  continuously  some  one  class  or 
section  in  some  one  subject  for  the  half-year,  being  entirely  responsible  for  the 
class  or  section  of  which  he  has  charge,  just  as  if  he  were  the  regular  teacher. 
All  the  work  in  observation  and  practice  is  in  the  direct  charge  of  one  of  the 
instructors  in  education  from  Harv^ard  University.  He  discusses  with  the 
students  their  w'ork,  giving  aid  in  outlining  the  lessons  the  students  are  to 
present. 

The  experienced  students  visit  schools  thruout  the  year,  giving  special 
attention  to  administration  and  organization  the  second  half  of  the  year. 
This  course  is  open  only  to  seniors  and  graduate  students.  The  university 
offers  one  free  course  to  one  teacher  for  each  student  teaching  in  a  given  school 
up  to  the  number  of  ten  courses  in  any  one  year. 

During  one  term  (twelve  w^eeks)  an  opportunity  is  given  the  students  in 
education  at  West  Virginia  University  to  observe  the  high-school  work  of  the 
Morgantown  schools.  About  twelve  or  fifteen  exercises  are  observed.  For 
students  who  have  taken  a  number  of  courses  in  education,  there  is  a  seminar 
or  practucum  which  meets  twice  a  week  for  twenty-four  weeks.  Each  student 
presents  at  least  six  lessons  in  the  city  schools,  being  informed  some  days  in 
advance  just  what  lesson  is  to  be  presented  in  a  given  subject.  One  student 
prepares  a  lesson  plan  and  presents  it  for  criticism.  Each  member  of  the 
seminar  also  prepares  a  tentative  plan  of  the  same  lesson,  the  entire  class  being 


Department] 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 


651 

present  when  the  lesson  is  presented.  After  the  presentation  of  the  lesson 
the  instructor  holds  a  conference  of  students  for  the  purpose  of  criticism. 

In  1904  the  University  of  Missouri  established  the  Teachers  College  High 
School  which  now  enrolls  about  one  hundred  students.  Nearly  all  the  teaching 
is  done  by  senior  students  of  the  Teachers  College,  who  receive  credit  for  their 
teaching  the  same  as  for  any  regular  university  subject.  Students  who  are 
to  receive  the  teacher’s  certificate  must  do  practice  teaching  (from  two  to  nine 
hours’  credit)  one  semester.  The  practice  work  is  under  the  direct  super¬ 
vision  of  the  professor  of  theory  and  practice  of  teaching,  who  is  also  super¬ 
intendent  of  the  Teachers  College  High  School,  assisted  by  the  heads  of 
departments  of  the  Teachers  College.  The  high  school  is  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  a  principal,  the  girls  being  in  charge  of  a  lady  assistant 

The  University  of  Ohio  conducts  no  courses  in  observation  but  some 
instructors  arrange  for  such  work  in  the  city  high  schools. 

The  University  of  Washington  has  no  practice  school  but  students  who 
intend  to  teach  are  requested  to  do  a  semester’s  work  in  observation  and 
practice  in  the  Seattle  public  schools.  One  of  the  university  courses  which 
deals  with  secondary  school  curriculum  requires  students  to  devote  one  after¬ 
noon  each  week  to  observation  in  the  city  schools,  under  the  direction  of  the 
professor  of  education.  In  connection  with  a  course  in  supervision,  students 
visit  local  schools  to  study  the  problems  of  organization  and  management. 

The  University  of  Chicago  maintains  a  secondary  school.  The  teachers 
are  experts  and  students  have  an  opportunity  to  study  the  workings  of  the 
school  and  the  methods  of  instruction.  The  announcements  of  the  university 
state  that  practice  teaching  is  required  in  certain  courses  in  mathematics; 
however,  no  information  could  be  obtained  as  to  where  or  how  the  work  is 
done. 

At  the  University  of  Colorado  observation  and  practice  teaching  are  carried 
on  in  the  city  schools  and  in  the  state  preparatory  school.  The  work  in  the 
city  schools  is  in  charge  of  the  professor  of  education.  The  general  direction 
of  the  observation  and  practice  teaching  is  left  to  the  head  master  of  the 
preparatory  school. 

Observation  and  practice  teaching  at  the  University  of  Nebraska. 

EXTRACTS  FROM 

The  Projessional  Training  oj  Teachers.  Macmillan.  G.  W.  A.  Luckey, 
Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Nebraska. 

By  an  arrangement  with  the  public-school  authorities  of  Lincoln,  the  university 
students  are  given  opportunity  for  observation  and  practice  under  direct  supervision,  cov¬ 
ering  both  elementary  and  high-school  grades.  In  order  to  obtain  this  privilege  the  student 
must  have  reached  the  rank  of  senior  and  be  within  one  year  of  the  requirements  for  the 
university  teacher’s  certificate. 

Students  are  required  to  take  certain  courses  in  education. 

Partly  for  their  convenience  and  partly  on  account  of  their  strength,  the  students  are 
divided  into  two  classes,  cadets  and  student  teachers.  The  former  give  attention  only  to 


652 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


observation  of  the  regular  schoolwork  and  to  the  assisting  of  the  regular  teacher  in  the 
classwork;  the  latter,  in  addition  to  the  work  of  cadets,  are  called  upon  as  substitutes, 
or  supply  teachers,  to  fill  temporary  vacancies.  Cadets  receive  no  pay,  but  student  teachers, 
when  supplying,  receive  pay  at  about  one-half  the  usual  salary.  There  are  fifteen  public- 
school  buildings  in  the  city,  to  each  of  which  may  be  assigned  one  or  more  cadets  or  student 
teachers,  depending  upon  the  size  of  the  building  and  the  number  of  students  registering 
for  practice-work.  Students  visit  the  building  to  which  they  are  assigned  at  last  twice  a 
week,  spending  two  hours  on  each  visit.  They  report  to  the  principal  for  duty  and  are 
sent  by  her  to  one  of  the  rooms,  where  they  make  themselves  useful  by  assisting  the  teacher 
in  the  seat  and  classwork  of  the  pupils,  in  distributing  material,  etc.  In  this  way  they  become 
familiar  wdth  the  general  plan  of  the  schoolwork,  with  the  names  of  most  of  the  pupils; 
so  that,  when  later  they  are  called  upon  to  supply  temporarily  the  place  of  any  teacher  in 
the  building  to  which  they  have  been  assigned,  they  feel  at  home,  and  the  pupils  look  upon 
and  respect  them  as  regular  employees  or  teachers. 

When  two  or  more  students  are  assigned  to  the  same  building,  they  arrange  to  have 
their  \dsits  come  at  different  hours.  The  position  of  student  teacher  calls  for  more  respon¬ 
sibility  than  that  of  the  cadet,  since  the  former  may  be  called  upon  at  any  time  to  supply 
in  the  building  to  which  he  has  been  assigned,  tho  the  supply-work  of  any  student  teacher 
will  probably  not  exceed  ten  days  per  year. 

The  city  superintendent  of  schools  is  a  university  lecturer  on  school  super¬ 
vision  and  he  has  the  practical  direction  of  cadets  and  student  teachers. 

A  limited  number  of  advanced  students  who  are  carrying  fewer  hours  of  university 
work  are  employed  as  regular  assistants  and  readers  in  the  high  school.  They  give  daily 
service  and  receive  pay  for  the  same  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  cents  per  hour. 

At  Columbia  University  two  practice  and  observation  schools  are  main¬ 
tained.  In  one  of  these  opportunity  for  practice  teaching  is  given.  The 
other  charges  a  high  rate  of  tuition  and  the  work  is  in  charge  of  expert  teachers. 
In  the  school  first  mentioned  aU  work  is  in  charge  of  special  teachers  who 
supervise  the  work  of  the  student  teachers.  The  second  school  affords  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  observation. 

The  English  department  requires  twenty-four  hours  of  English  as  a  pre¬ 
requisite  to  admission  to  the  training-course.  Students  who  have  never 
taught  are  required  to  teach  two  or  three  weeks.  This  work  is  carefully 
prepared  for  and  carefully  supervised.  All  students  are  required  to  make  a 
study  of  the  work  in  the  Horace  Mann  School;  to  make  accurate  and  deta’led 
reports  of  what  they  have  seen,  and  to  participate  in  critical  reports  of 
what  they  have  seen,  and  in  critical  discussions  on  this  work.  The 
great  need  of  the  department  is  more  time  for  practice.  (Professor  Baker 
thinks  that,  instead  of  one  or  two  weeks,  at  least  a  month  of  such  teachng 
should  be  required  of  each  inexperienced  teacher.) 

The  department  of  mathematics  has  a  two-hour  course  in  observation  and 
practice.  About  one-sixth  of  the  time  is  allotted  to  observing  the  teaching  in 
certain  classes,  and  five  hours  to  general  observ^ation  in  the  Horace  Mann 
School.  The  rest  of  the  time  is  devoted  to  teaching.  All  work  is  under  the 
general  control  of  the  head  of  the  department,  who  visits  the  classes  as  oppor¬ 
tunity  permits,  and  it  is  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  an  adviser  of 
experience  who  m.eets  daily  each  student  who  is  observing  or  practicing. 


Department] 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 


653 


The  department  of  Latin  follows  two  methods  in  the  training  of  teachers. 
A  certain  amount  of  time,  equivalent  to  about  six  weeks,  one  period  per  day, 
is  devoted  to  observation  in  the  various  classes  under  the  guidance  of  the 
teachers;  they  observe  and  report  on  the  work  that  is  done,  and  sometimes  lay 
out  the  plans  of  lessons  for  the  following  day,  which  they  can  criticize  in  the 
light  of  the  actual  lesson.  Finally,  the  students  are  given  a  certain  amount 
of  actual  teaching.  So  far  each  student  has  been  able  to  have  but  one  or  two 
weeks  of  actual  practice  in  teaching.  In  the  department  of  geology  no  attempt 
at  practice  teaching  is  made. 

Students  who  expect  to  teach  physiography  in  secondary  schools  do  obser¬ 
vation  work.  They  also  assist  instructors  in  preparing  laboratory  materials 
and  devising  laboratory  exercises  and  in  an  instance  to  individuals  in  group 
laboratory  work. 

At  the  University  of  Illinois,  the  Academy  (situated  upon  the  campus)  and 
the  city  schools  of  Champaign  and  Urbana  are  utilized  for  observation  and 
practice  purposes.  A  two-hour  course  in  observation  is  open  to  juniors  and  a 
three-hour  course  in  -practice  is  open  to  seniors.  In  the  former,  students  are 
assigned  particular  courses,  largely  in  the  academy  wLich  they  visit  regularly 
for  from  four  to  six  weeks,  carefully  noting  the  work  done  and  having  weekly 
conferences  with  the  regular  instructor  and  a  member  of  the  department  of 
education  of  the  university  who  is  in  charge  of  the  practice-work.  Students 
in  the  practice  course  teach  regularly  for  some  weeks  a  class  assigned  them  in 
some  one  of  the  schools. 

CERTIFICATES 

A  number  of  institutions  offer  a  teacher’s  certificate  upon  the  completion 
of  a  certain  number  of  hours’  w'ork  in  specified  departments.  The  University 
of  Michigan  appears  to  have  been  the  leader  in  this  movement  and  nearly  all 
the  courses  leading  to  this  type  of  diploma  are  similar  to  the  requirements  for 
the  teacher’s  diploma  of  the  University  of  Michigan. 

In  general,  certificates  are  based  upon  three  sets  of  requirements,  viz. : 

a)  Special  knowledge  in  the  subject  or  group  of  subjects  the  candidate  wishes  to  teach. 

h)  Professional  knowledge.  This  includes  courses  in  pedagogy  and  education,  and 
usually  psychology  and  logic. 

c)  General  knowledge  of  science,  mathematics,  English,  foreign  languages,  history,  etc. 
This  requirement  is  intended  to  secure  as  broad  culture  as  possible. 

These  three  groups  of  requirements  will  probably  cover  the  demands  made 
by  all  the  institutions  which  grant  such  certificates  of  qualification  to  teachers 
in  secondary  schools.  The  courses  differ  in  the  amount  of  work  required  in 
the  different  groups.  In  several  states  the  university  certificate  is  honored 
as  a  teaching  certificate  and,  after  the  holder  has  taught  a  certain  length  of 
time,  the  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction  issues  a  permanent  certifi¬ 
cate  to  teach.  Below  are  given  extracts  from  the  regulations  of  several 
universities  which  grant  diplomas.  No'  attempt  is  made  to  study  the  re¬ 
quirements  of  the  many  small  colleges  which  offer  certificates.  Their 


654 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


certificates  are  usually  given  to  undergraduates,  while  the  certificates  here 
studied  are  issued  at  graduation  or  to  graduate  students. 

University  of  Wisconsin:  Special,  major  subject;  general,  same  as  for  regular  course 
leading  to  degree;  professional,  ten  hours.  A  law  enacted  by  the  legislature  of  1901  states: 

“A  diploma  granted  upon  the  completion  of  a  regular  collegiate  course  of  the  Univer¬ 
sity  of  Wisconsin,  if  accompanied  by  a  certificate  that  the  bearer  has  completed  the  course 
of  pedagogical  instruction  prescribed  by  the  university  for  all  persons  who  intend  to  teach 
.  .  .  .  upon  presentation  to  the  state  superintendent  shall  entitle  the  holder  to  receive 
from  that  officer  a  certificate  which  shall  authorize  him  to  teach  in  any  public  school  for 
one  year.” 

Section  458  h  and  d  of  the  Revised  Statutes  provides  that  after  one  year  of  successful 
teaching  the  diploma  of  a  graduate  of  the  university  may  be  countersigned  by  the  state 
superintendent,  and  that  when  so  countersigned  the  diploma  shall  have  the  force  and  effect 
given  by  law  to  the  unlimited  state  certificate,  and  may  be  honored  as  a  teaching  certificate. 

University  of  Nebraska:  Special,  twenty  hours  (varies);  general,  qualifications  for 
B.S.  or  B.A.  degree;  professional,  eighteen  hours. 

The  university  teacher’s  certificate  is  granted  to  graduates  of  the  university  who 
have  satisfactorily  completed  the  work  outlined  below  and  have  shown  marked  proficiency 
therein. 

“The  professional  work  required  for  the  teacher’s  certificate  may  be  elected  by  regular 
students  above  sophomore  standing,  by  experienced  teachers,  and  by  unclassified  students 
who  satisfy  the  heads  of  departments  that  they  are  qualified  to  pursue  the  work. 

“Under  section  ten  of  the  school  law  of  Nebraska,  as  amended  in  1897,  state 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  is  authorized  to  grant  permanent  state  teachers’ 
certificates  after  three  years’  successful  experience  in  teaching.  The  certificates  are  also 
recognized  by  the  authorities  in  a  number  of  other  states  as  sufficient  evidence  upon  which 
to  grant  teachers’  licenses  without  examination.”  They  be  may  honored  as  a  teaching 
certificate. 

University  of  Missouri:  Special,  same  as  for  major  subject;  general,  regular  require¬ 
ment  for  graduation;  professional,  twenty-four  hours.  Gives  right  to  teach.  Life-certifi¬ 
cate  to  teach  in  high  schools.  Same  general  requirements  as  for  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Science.  As  part  of  the  twenty-four  hours  in  education,  the  following  courses  must  be 
included:  ih,  or  2,  5a,  19a  or  19^,  and  at  least  one  special  course  on  the  teaching  of  some 
subject  of  high-school  instruction.  As  part  of  the  academic  work,  the  candidate  must 
elect  at  least  eighteen  hours  in  each  subject  which  he  expects  to  teach. 

University  of  Illinois:  Special,  major  subject;  general,  graduation;  professional, 
fourteen  hours.  Does  not  give  right  to  teach. 

The  School  of  Education  grants  no  degree,  power  to  recommend  such  residing  in  the 
particular  college  in  which  the  student  is  registered.  It  has,  however,  the  power  to  recom¬ 
mend  the  granting  of  a  special  certificate,  the  university  certificate  of  qualification  to  teach. 
Upon  this  will  be  stated  the  major  or  majors  of  the  recipient,  whether  definite  subjects  * 
or  instruction,  special  subjects  for  supervision  or  general  supervision.  All  candidates 
for  the  teacher’s  certificate  must  take  the  following  courses:  elementary  psychology 
(psychology  i  or  2,  3  hours);  principles  of  education  (education  i,  5  hours);  high-school 
organization  and  administration  (education  6,  3  hours),  and  three  hours  of  work  selected 
from  the  offerings  of  the  department  of  philosophy. 

University  of  California:  Special,  twenty  hours;  general,  graduation,  four  groups; 
professional,  twelve  hours. 

Special  knowledge,  twenty  units,  normally,  in  the  subject  or  group  of  closely  allied 
subjects  that  the  candidate  expects  to  teach,  the  ultimate  decision  as  to  the  candidate’s 
proficiency  resting  with  the  heads  of  the  departments  concerned.  (In  some  departments 
more  than  twenty  units  are  necessary.) 


Department] 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 


655 


General  knowledge,  courses  sufficient  to  represent  (with  the  inclusion  of  special  studies) 
four  groups  from  the  following  hst:  Natural  sciences,  mathematics,  English,  foreign  lan¬ 
guages,  history,  philosophy.  This  requirement  is  intended  to  secime,  so  far  as  is  possible, 
breadth  of  culture  and  sympathy  with  the  various  Hues  of  high-school  work. 

For  teacher’s  certificate  the  requirements  are  the  same  as  for  group  elective,  except 
that  in  the  fifteen  imits  of  advanced  courses  candidates  must  include  iia,  either  14c  or 
one  part  of  23,  and  one  other  course  from  the  list  ii  to  14.  If,  however,  they  are  combining 
advanced  studies  in  economics,  pohtics,  history,  or  jurisprudence  with  Enghsh  for  their 
groups,  they  may  sutstitute  for  this  requirement  of  three  philological  courses,  any  one  course 
from  iia  to  14^  and  two  in  debating  (7a  to  7c).  Courses  9,  10,  ii  to  14,  17,  18,  21,  23,  and 
the  graduate  courses  are  especially  adapted  to  the  needs  of  students  who  desire  to  teach. 

Beginning  wdth  December,  1905,  a  final  examination  will  be  required  of  candidates 
for  the  teacher’s  certificate  in  Enghsh.  The  emphasis  will  be  laid,  not  so  much  on  detailed 
information  as  (a)  on  grasp  of  the  subject  of  Enghsh  in  its  twofold  aspect — the  language 
and  literature,  and  (&)  on  scholarly  methods  and  workmanship.  The  candidates  wih  be 
expected  to  satisfy  the  department  of  Enghsh  that  they  have:  i.  A  scholarly  acquaintance 
with  each  of  the  three  main  periods  of  the  Enghsh  language  and  with  the  history  of  the 
development  to  the  present  time;  2.  Familiarity,  obtained  at  first  hand,  with  the  chief 
masterpieces  of  Enghsh  hterature,  "^dth  the  history  of  its  development,  and  \\’ith  the  prin¬ 
ciples  and  methods  of  historical  study;  3.  Satisfactory  special  knowledge  of  one  of  the 
greater  authors  or  of  one  of  the  main  hterary  movements;  4.  Training  in  the  principles 
and  methods  of  poetry  and  prose  requisite  to  the  advajiced  study  of  hterature;  5.  SkiU 
in  organizing  and  presenting  thought,  oraUy  and  in  writing.  Candidates  are  warned  against 
supposing  that  the  purpose  of  the  examination  can  be  attained  by  mere  accumulation  of 
courses  in  Enghsh.  It  wih  always  be  presupposed,  however,  that  candidates  presenting 
themselves  for  examination  have  an  equivalent  of  twenty-seven  units  of  Enghsh  to  their 
credit. 

Teachers’  certificates.  The  department  wdU,  in  general,  recommend,  as  quahfied  to 
teach  mathematics  in  high  schools,  only  such  graduates  as  have  passed  with  credit  in  courses 
2,  4,  5,  6,  9,  II,  12a,  126,  13,  18.  It  is  also  of  great  importance  that  the  prospective 
teacher  of  mathematics  should  be  weU  informed  on  the  relation  of  mathematics  to  other 
sciences,  and  he  should  to  that  end  devote  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  to  at  least  one 
of  the  closely  related  sciences.  The  department  further  reserves  the  right  to  exact  a  practical 
test  of  the  candidate’s  ability  to  present  a  clear  and  interesting  exposition  of  subjects  taught 
in  the  high  schools.  For  those  preparing  to  become  teachers  and  investigators,  the  indi¬ 
vidual  aims  of  the  student  will  determine,  after  the  fundamental  courses  have  been  taken, 
what  advanced  courses  should  be  selected.  The  minimum  for  the  teachers’  recommenda¬ 
tion  is  I  (lectures  only),  2,  3,  either  4,  5,  and  7  and  17. 

Students  who  desire  the  teacher’s  certificate  should  do  not  less  than  eighteen  units 
of  group  elective  work  in  German,  including  courses  6a,  66,  7a,  12,  i8a,  and  186.  The 
recommendation  for  the  certificate  is  not,  however,  given  in  course,  but  only  for  high  scholar¬ 
ship  and  general  proficiency  in  German,  as  judged  by  the  department.  Applicants  for 
this  certificate  wall  be  required  to  take,  in  addition  to  the  elementary  courses,  at  least  ten 
hours  of  junior  and  eight  hours  of  senior  work,  but  the  formal  comphance  with  this  require¬ 
ment  does  not  necessarily  entitle  the  applicant  to  the  certificate;  and  in  any  case  a  fair 
speaking  knowledge  will  be  a  requisite.  Twenty-four  units  of  physics  will  be  required  for 
the  teacher’s  recommendation.  Applicants  for  the  recommendation  in  physics,  in  making 
up  this  number  of  units,  must  include  in  their  work  the  equivalent  of  courses  i  and  3,  with 
either  course  4  or  2a.  See  statements  under  these  headings,  and  under  course  18.  In  all 
cases  proposed  combinations  of  courses  should  be  submitted  for  approval  to  the  professor  of 
physics.  The  requirements  for  recommendation  by  the  department  are  (a)  12  units  of 
advanced  work  in  Latin;  (b)  course  4;  (c)  Greek,  course  A  (or  its  equivalent),  but  until 
May,  1907,  a  reading  knowledge  of  French  may  be  substituted;  (d)  a  reading  knowledge 


656 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


of  German;  (e)  an  acquaintance  with  Roman  political  history;  (/)  the  distribution  of  the 
12  units  of  advanced  work  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  acquaintance  with  ante-classical  and 
imperial  Latin,  and  with  poetry  as  well  as  prose.  Students  will  be  recommended  for 
teachers’  certificates  who,  at  graduation,  or  after,  shall  have  completed  with  credit  course 
6  in  addition  to  twenty-one  units  of  university  work  in  Greek.  Graduate  students  will 
be  recommended  on  proof  of  having  creditably  completed  work  equivalent  to  that  required 
of  undergraduates.  Training-course  for  students  intending  to  become  teachers  of  chem¬ 
istry,  4  hours,  throughout  the  year;  i  hour  lecture,  i  period  (3  hours)  assisting  in  laboratory 
instruction,  and  2  periods  (6  hours)  of  laboratory  work.  The  instruction  will  be  partici¬ 
pated  in  by  all  the  department  instructors.  Prerequisites:  Courses  5a  or  5&,  8.  Courses 
I,  2,  3,  4,  5a,  8,  and  28  are  prerequisite  for  a  teacher’s  recommendation  in  chemistry. 

A  discussion  of  the  teaching  of  history  in  secondary  schools,  with  special  emphasis 
on  the  methods  and  materials.  The  course  is  designed  for  seniors  and  graduates  expecting 
to  apply  for  a  high-school  teacher’s  certificate  in  history:  Two  hours,  either  half-year, 
Tuesdays,  3.  Prerequisite:  Courses  52,  54,  64,  63,  and  73,  and  political* science  i. 

The  department  of  history  will  recommend  for  high-school  teachers’  certificates  only 
such  students  as  have  completed  at  least  six  units  of  each  of  the  following  six  subjects: 
government,  ancient  history,  mediaeval  history,  modern  European  history,  English  history, 
and  American  history.  Those  desiring  teachers’  certificates  are  advised  to  take  courses 
4,  5,  and  9,  with  the  prerequisites,  but  should  consult  with  the  head  of  the  department 
early  in  their  course.  Lecture  courses  in  summer  session  are  equivalent  to  course  i  in 
part  and  credit  will  not  be  imposed  each  half-year  for  each  laboratory  course.  This  rule 
applies  to  courses  2,  3,  5,  6,  7,  9,  ii,  12,  13,  14. 

University  of  Texas:  Special,  major  subject  (eighteen  hours);  general,  graduation; 
professional,  ten  hours  (3I  courses),  permanent  teaching  certificate;  2  years  state:  2  courses 
in  education  and  3  other  full  courses;  4  years  state:  3  full  courses  in  education  and  3  other 
full  courses,  3  in  education  and  diploma.  Diplomas  conferred  by  the  board  of  regents 
upon  academic  graduates  completing  courses  i,  2,  3,  4,  and  one  other  full  course  or  its 
equivalent  in  the  School  of  Education.  Corresponds  to  teacher’s  certificate  of  other  uni¬ 
versities.  Teachers’  course,  a  review  of  preparatory  Latin  authors  and  prose  composition. 
Courses  3  and  4,  at  least,  are  prerequisite.  Teachers’  course  in  botanical  method:  This 
course  will  involve  discussions  of  the  botanical  content  or  subject-matter  of  nature-studies 
for  the  grades,  elementary  agriculture  for  rural  schools,  and  the  more  substantial  course 
in  botany  for  high  schools;  a  short  review  of  the  fundamental  relations  of  the  science  to  a 
rational  teaching  method;  consideration  of  the  technical  details  of  high-school  laboratory 
work.  Prerequisites,  botany  i,  or  its  equivalent,  and  where  credit  is  desired  in  the  School 
of  Education,  courses  i,  2,  3,  and  4  in  that  school.  The  teaching  of  elementary  mathe¬ 
matics:  This  course  is  intended  for  those  wishing  to  become  teachers  of  mathematics. 
There  will  be  a  discussion  of  the  underlying- principles  and  fundamental  concepts  of  the 
subject  showing  the  bearing  of  such  principles  and  concepts  on  correct  methods  of  teaching. 
A  practical  application  of  these  discussions  will  be  made  to  public-school  work.  It  is 
hoped  that  this  course  will  be  of  benefit  to  prospective  teachers  and  superintendents. 
Special  attention  will  be  given  to  the  teaching  of  mathematics  in  secondary  schools.  This 
course  will  be  open  to  those  who  have  had  mathematics  i  or  mathematics  2. 

University  of  Michigan:  Special,  major  subject;  general,  graduation;  professional, 
eleven  hours.  By  authority  of  an  act  of  the  state  legislature,  passed  in  1891,  the  faculty 
of  this  department  gives  a  teacher’s  certificate  to  any  person  who  takes  a  Bachelor’s, 
Master’s,  or  Doctor’s  degree,  and  also  receives  a  teacher’s  diploma  as  provided  above. 
By  the  terms  of  the  act,  the  certificate  given  by  the  faculty  shall  serve  as  a  legal  certificate 
or  qualification  to  teach  in  any  of  the  schools  of  this  State,  when  a  copy  thereof  shall  have 
been  filed  or  recorded  in  the  office  of  the  legal  examining  officer  or  officers  of  the  county, 
township,  city,  or  district. 

University  of  Iowa:  Special,  major  subject;  general,  graduation;  professional,  eighteen 


Department]  ' 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 


657 


hours.  !May  be  honored  as  a  teaching  certificate.  Students  who  have  completed  the 
following  work  and  who  have  met  the  other  requirements  stated  shall  be  awarded  a  teacher’s 
certificate  in  education:  i.  Twelve  semester  hours  in  education,  including  the  courses  in 
principles  of  education  and  in  child-study.  2.  Six  semester  hours  in  psychology.  3.  All 
other  requirements  for  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  the  college  of  liberal  arts  in  this 
university.  4.  The  recommendation  by  the  department  of  education  and  the  vote  of  the 
faculty  upon  the  basis  of  superior  work,  apparent  aptitude  for  teaching,  and  the  fulfilment 
of  other  requirements.  ^ 

University  of  Kansas,  1903-4,  p.  82,  teacher’s  diploma:  The  teacher’s  diploma  of 
the  university  may  be  given  to  A.B.,  A.M.  and  Ph.D.  graduates  of  the  university  on  the 
foUovnng  conditions:  The  completion  of  at  least  four  years  of  college-work  in  the  subject, 
or  the  closely  allied  subjects,  that  the  candidate  proposes  to  teach;  the  ultimate  decision 
as  to  the  candidate’s  proficiency  to  rest  -unth  the  head  of  the  department  in  which  the  major 
work  is  taken.  The  completion  of  two  and  one-half  terms’  work  in  the  department  of 
education.  The  candidate  for  the  A.B.  degree,  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  candidate  for 
the  teacher’s  diploma,  shall  be  required  to  offer  twenty-five  terms  (about  125  semester 
hours)  of  undergraduate  work.  The  teacher’s  diploma  shall  be  granted  only  to  graduates 
whose  scholarship  in  the  twenty-five  terms’  work  offered  for  the  degree  and  the  diploma 
averages  as  high  as  grade  ii.  On  presentation  of  the  university  teacher’s  diploma  the 
state  board  of  education  will  issue  a  three-year  state  teacher’s  certificate.  At  the  expiration 
of  the  three-year  certificate  a  life-certificate  will  be  issued,  if  the  candidate  has  taught 
successfully  during  two  of  the  three  years.  No  observation  or  practice  teaching. 

Cornell  University:  A  state  certificate  upon  graduation  good  for  three  years,  and  renew¬ 
able  for  life  without  examination,  is  granted  to  those  who  successfully  complete  a  course 
in  the  science  and  art  of  education. 

The  university  prescribed  work  is  as  follows:  i  psychology,  general  and  educational, 
90  hours;  2,  method  in  teaching,  60  hours;  3,  history  and  principles  of  education,  90  hours; 
4,  observation,  20  hours. 

Students  who  do  not  complete  the  foregoing  may  receive  a  temporary  certificate  upon 
graduation  good  for  two  years,  but  renewable  only  upon  state  examinations  in  professional 
subjects  constituting  a  full  equivalent  for  the  university  courses  required  in  the  first  alter¬ 
native.  The  subjects  for  this  examination  are  as  follows:  psychology,  general  and  edu¬ 
cational;  history  and  principles  of  education;  method  in  teaching. 

University  of  Chicago  (The  College  of  Education):  A  diploma  is  granted  after  two 
years’  work,  but  the  regular  course  of  preparation  covers  four  years.  As  a  prerequisite, 
3  units  of  English,  2j  imits  of  mathematics,  3  units  of  foreign  languages  are  prescribed 
for  admission  to  the  college.  The  remaining  units  for  entrance  may  be  selected  from 
the  rest  of  the  ofiScial  list.  Thirty-six  majors  (4  years’  work)  are  required  for  graduation. 
The  prescribed  work  of  the  first  two  years  is  philosophy,  i  major;  psychology,  i  major; 
English,  2  majors;  mathematics  or  science,  2  majors;  electives,  6  majors;  work  in  some 
special  department,  6  majors.  The  work  of  the  last  two  years  (senior  college)  requires 
18  majors. 


ACADEMIC  PREPARATION 

There  is  a  great  difference  of  opinion  among  instructors  as  to  the  exact 
amount  of  work  a  student  should  do  in  any  particular  before  he  may  be  recom¬ 
mended  as  teacher  of  that  subject.  Institutions  which  grant  teachers’  diplomas 
have  definite  requirements.  Sometimes  the  requirement  is  uniform.  More 
frequently  there  is  some  variation  in  the  number  of  hours  required  in  different 

*  This  certificate  may  also  be  awarded  to  graduate  students  who  complete  the  work  in  education  and  in 
psychology  and  who  receive  the  recommendation  of  the  department  of  education  and  the  vote  of  the  faculty. 


658 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


subjects.  Frequently  a  minimum  number  of  hours  is  required  but  provision 
is  made  for  the  including  of  related  subjects  with  the  major  subject.  Some 
institutions  have  no  set  standard  of  recommendation,  the  matter  being  left 
entirely  to  the  discretion  of  the  individual  instructors.  The  number  of  hours 
in  the  special  subject  is  left  to  the  instructor  but  not  more  than  twenty-five 
hours  may  be  required  in  one  subject. 

At  Brown  University  recommendation  is  largely  a  personal  matter  with 
the  instructor  and  is  not  an  act  of  the  university. 

At  Harvard  the  same  plan  is  followed.  In  chemistry  two  courses  are 
required,  but  two  more  should  be  taken.  In  history  about  five  courses  in 
history  and  government  might  suffice.  In  mathematics  three  courses  are 
required  and,  in  addition  to  them,  there  should  be  an  additional  course  in 
mathematics,  or  in  physics  above  freshman  grade.  However,  recommenda¬ 
tions  are  sometimes  made  even  if  the  candidates  have  not  met  the  full  re¬ 
quirement. 

In  French  four  years’  work  entitles  to  only  a  moderate  testimonial.  For  a 
recommendation  without  reserve  the  candidate  should  have  not  only  four  full 
courses,  but  also  one  or  two  higher  courses  in  the  literature  and  should  have 
good  pronunciation. 

In  the  department  of  zoology  two  courses  are  required,  but  most  students 
expecting  to  teach  the  subject  take  much  more.  The  English  department 
seldom  gives  recommendations  as  a  body,  this  being  considered  an  individual 
matter  with  the  instructors.  The  instructor  uses  his  discretion  in  recom¬ 
mending  candidates,  basing  his  recommendation  upon  his  personal  knowledge 
of  their  ability.  Latin  and  Greek  have  no  very  definite  requirements  but  they 
must  be  pursued  at  least  thru  the  sophomore  year  and  the  student  must  be 
familiar  with  Greek  and  Latin  composition.  Including  the  work  the  student 
has  had  in  the  preparatory  school,  this  standard  means  about  six  years  of  Latin 
and  from  three  to  five  years  of  Greek.  The  teachers  of  Latin  must  be  well 
up  in  Greek. 

The  department  of  geology  does  not  prepare  many  men  for  high-school 
work.  Altho  there  is  no  definite  standard,  four  courses  would  probably  be 
sufficient  to  secure  recommendation.  The  department  of  German  requires 
three  full  years  of  work. 

At  the  University  of  Wisconsin  the  department  of  history  requires  thirty 
hours;  mathematics  thirty-six;  English  forty;  Latin  twxnty-six;  and  physics 
twenty-two  hours.  In  some  of  the  departments  it  is  thought  that  more  work 
should  be  taken  if  the  student  wishes  to  specialize. 

Dartmouth  College  has  no  definite  system  of  recommendation  but  it  is 
probably  safe  to  say  that  the  scientific  departments  will  want  a  man  to  have 
all  the  elementary  courses  and  one  or  two  advanced  courses  in  his  chosen 
subject,  before  he  may  be  recommended  as  prepared  to  teach  in  a  secondary 
school. 

The  University  of  Texas  requires  eighteen  hours’  work  for  the  major  sub- 


Department] 


TEACHERS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 


659 


jects,  but  the  heads  of  some  departments  demand  more  work  from  subjects 
who  expect  to  teach.  In  botany  thirty  hours  (five  courses)  is  recommended, 
tho  twelve  hours  might  be  sufficient  for  the  student  who  will  teach  botany  as  a 
minor  subject.  The  English  department  asks  for  six  hours  of  higher  work 
besides  the  eighteen  hours  nominally  required. 

The  language"  departments  demand  more  work,  German  and  Latin  each 
asking  for  thirty  hours.  Greek  should  be  accompanied  by  an  extensive  course 
in  Latin.  Mathematics  requires  about  twenty-four  hours,  while  in  physics 
only  sixteen  hours  are  required.  Physiography  and  zoology  demand  only 
eighteen  hours. 

At  the  University  of  Rochester  thirty  hours  or  one-sixth  of  the  work  required 
for  a  degree  is  the  minimum  preparation  for  the  teacher  of  a  special  subject  in 
the  high  school.  Of  this  work  in  the  special  subject  from  five  to  fifteen  hours 
are  required,  the  other  courses  in  the  subject  or  group  of  subjects  being  elective. 
The  university  has  no  specific  regulation  as  to  the  recommendation  of  its 
candidates  but  the  plan  mentioned  represents  very  closely  the  standard 
applied  to  judging  the  fitness  of  a  student  for  high-school  work. 

At  Indiana  University  the  major-subject  requirement  usually  represents 
the  amount  of  training  that  is  the  basis  for  recommendation  to  teach  in  good 
high  schools.  The  major  subject  requires  forty-five  hours  in  the  departments 
of  Latin,  English,  history,  physics,  mathematics,  and  botany.  In  modern 
language  the  requirement  is  sixty  hours.  Besides  the  regular  requirement  in  a 
subject  the  department  may  control  twenty  hours,  in  work  closely  related  to 
the  major  subject.  By  permission  a  student  may  do  more  work  than  the  forty- 
five  hours  required  in  the  special  subject.  Students  (special)  who  are  special¬ 
izing  in  certain  subjects  will  usually  receive  preference  in  recommendation  as 
teachers  of  those  subjects.  Students  who  do  not  graduate  may  receive  a 
statement  of  the  amount  of  work  they  have  done  in  any  department.  Where 
a  teacher  is  required  who  can  teach  several  subjects  the  student  is  required  to 
major  in  but  one  subject.  Two  years’  work  would  be  sufficient  in  any  subject 
the  candidate  might  be  expected  to  teach,  with  the  exception  of  modern  lan¬ 
guage  not  studied  before  entering  college. 

West  Virginia  University  requires  thirty  hours  of  English,  twenty  hours  of 
history,  and  ten  hours  of  physics.  In  Latin  the  student  should,  at  the  very 
least,  have  read  all  of  Caesar’s  Gallic  War,  eight  of  Cicero’s  shorter  orations, 
besides  his  letters  De  Amicitia  and  De  Senectute;  Virgil’s  Aeneid,  together 
with  the  Eclogues  and  Georgies;  the  Odes  and  Epodes  of  Horace,  and  one  book 
of  Livy’s  History  oj  Rome.  No  one  charge  should  attempt  to  teach  Latin 
until  he  has  enough  Greek  to  read  the  Anabasis,  the  Iliad,  and  the 
Odyssey. 

There  is  a  difference  in  opinion  among  the  instructors  of  Ohio  State 
University  as  to  the  exact  amount  of  work  that  should  be  required  of  a  student 
who  intends  to  teach  a  certain  subject.  About  thirty  hours  (22  U.  of  1.)  or 
one-sixth  of  the  total  amount  of  work  required  for  graduation  will  probably 


66o 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


represent  an  average  of  the  requirements.  Some  instructors  require  students 
to  take  teachers’  courses  in  the  subjects  they  expect  to  teach. 

The  State  University  of  Washington  adapts  its  requirements  to  the  grade 
of  high  school  needing  teachers.  There  are  about  seven  high  schools  of  the 
first  class  in  the  state.  For  recommendation  to  teach  in  this  group  the  student 
must  make  the  special  subject  he  is  to  teach  his  major.  To  teach  in  schools 
of  the  second  class  he  must  also  have  about  two  years’  work  in  any  other  sub¬ 
ject  he  may  be  required  to  teach.  To  teach  in  schools  of  the  third  group, 
college  preparation  is  required  in  two  or  three  subjects  but  no  definite  standard 
is  set.  / 

The  University  of  Colorado  requires  thirty  hours’  work,  but  this  need  not 
all  be  absolutely  in  one  course  or  department;  it  may  be  in  closely  allied  depart¬ 
ments.  Teachers  of  English  and  of  foreign  languages  must  have  twenty-five 
hours’  credit. 

The  School  of  Pedagogy  of  New  York  University  prepares  mainly  for  the 
work  of  the  elementary  schools.  The  institution  has  no  definite  requirement 
as  to  the  amount  of  work  a  student  must  do  to  receive  recommendation  for  a 
position  as  teacher  in  secondary  schools. 

At  Columbia  University  the  prerequisite  for  admission  to  secondary  train¬ 
ing  in  English  is  twenty-four  hours  in  English.  This  work  must  include  courses 
in  composition  and  in  literature.  The  literature  studies  must  have  included 
both  the  historical  and  critical  phases. 

The  student  must  take  six  hours’  work  in  the  professional  course  which 
includes  a  study  of  the  subject-matter  from  the  teacher’s  point  of  view  and  a 
study  of  teaching.  The  student  must  also  take  the  prescribed  work  in  obser¬ 
vation  and  practice  teaching. 

The  minimum  requirement  for  mathematics  is  eighteen  hours  but  the  best 
students  usually  exceed  this  amount.  Many  take  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
hours  more  than  the  amount  required.  The  university  requires  six  hours’ 
work  in  the  professional  or  training-courses.  A  graduate  training-course  of 
four  hours  may  be  taken. 

A  teacher  of  Latin  should  have  a  fairly  complete  and  accurate  reading 
knowledge  of  the  language.  He  should  understand  the  syntax  and  structure 
of  the  language  and,  in  addition,  should  be  versed  in  the  auxiliary  subjects  of 
antiquities  and  literature,  sufficient  for  the  necessary  illustration  of  his  teaching. 
Eighteen  hours  must  be  taken  before  the  student  may  be  admitted  to  the 
training-courses.  Twelve  hours’  work  is  required. 

The  official  minimum  requirement  for  the  student  who  expects  to  teach 
geography  is  three  years’  work,  three  hours  a  week.  This  course  includes  a 
course  in  general  geography  covering  the  elements  of  mathematical  geography, 
meteorology,  and  climatology,  the  land  forms  and  the  ocean,  in  which  study 
the  endeavor  is  made  to  go  beyond  the  scope  of  these  subjects  as  presented 
in  any  one  of  the  leading  textbooks.  In  addition  to  this,  each  student  is 
required  to  make  a  special  study  in  the  course,  of  the  origin  and  classification 


Department]  ELEMENTARY  AND  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


66l 


of  land  forms,  of  the  climate  of  the  United  States,  and  dynamical  geology  in 
the  more  advanced  courses  in  the  department  of  geology  of  Columbia 
University. 

The  minimum  requirement  should  be  supplemented  by  work  in  economics, 
geology,  and  advanced  work  in  physiography. 


XVII  {special) 

WILL  THE  SAME  TRAINING  IN  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  SERVE 
TO  PREPARE  THE  TEACHER  FOR  BOTH  ELEMEN¬ 
TARY  AND  HIGH-SCHOOL  WORK? 

JOHN  R.  KIRK,  PRESIDENT  OF  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  .KIRKSVLLLE,  MO. 

I.  GENERAL  STATEMENT 

1.  It  is  unwise  and  wasteful  to  classify  prospective  teachers  at  the  beginning 
of  their  professional  preparation  because  they  all  have  inherited  traits  and 
capabilities  which  should  be  the  criteria  for  their  differentiation  into  classes. 

2.  It  requires  two  or  three  years  of  instruction,  intermingled  with  experi¬ 
mentation,  to  determine  what  these  qualities  are. 

3.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  two  or  three  years  in  the  normal  school  or 
teachers’  college  should  be  devoted  to  such  general  courses  of  instruction  and 
experimentation  as  will  reveal  to  the  student  what  his  talents  are. 

4.  The  final  differentiation  into  elementary  teachers  and  high-school 
teachers  should  probably  take  place  during  the  fourth  year  in  the  normal 
school  and  in  the  teachers’  college.  Even  then  it  is  doubtful  wUether  the  two 
classes  of  teachers  need  to  be  separated  very  widely.  Perhaps  90  per  cent,  of 
all  the  professional  or  technical  instruction  and  preliminary  experience  in  the 
preparation  of  teachers  should  be  common  to  the  two  classes  under  consid¬ 
eration. 

5.  The  most  effective  and  practicable  scheme  in  the  preparation  of  all 
teachers  furnishes  academic  and  professional  instruction  side  by  side  and  in 
the  later  periods  joins  with  these  some  constructive  experience  in  teaching. 

II.  BASIC  FACTS 

Professional  preparation  for  all  teaching  below  the  college  is  predetermined 
by  the  following  facts: 

1 .  Adolescence  frequently  begins  pretty  low  down  in  the  elementary  school 
period  and  ends  early  in  the  high-school  period.  It  sometimes  begins  late  in 
the  high-school  period  and  continues  beyond  the  time  of  high-school 
graduation. 

2.  As  to  aptitudes  and  disposition,  children  differ  among  themselves  in 
the  elementary  school  fully  as  much  as  they  do  in  the  high  school. 

3.  Elementary-school  children  manifest  in  some  degree  practically  all  the 
traits  and  impulses  discovered  in  high-school  children. 


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[Secondary 


4.  The  subjects  in  the  curriculum  (whether  for  elementary  schools  or 
high  schools)  are  relatively  simple  and  easy,  while  the  children  to  be  taught 
(whether  in  elementary  school  or  high  school)  are  infinitely  varied  and  exceed¬ 
ingly  hard  to  understand  and  direct. 

5.  Sound  scholarship  in  the  content  of  the  school  curriculum  is  essential. 
But  it  constitutes  only  part  of  the  teachers’  burden  of  thought  and  study.  The 
paramount  problem  is  the  school  child. 

III.  ARGUMENT 

Training  is  a  bad  w^ord  for  our  purpose.  It  savors  too  much  of  studied 
imitation,  of  conscious  repetition,  and  the  exaltation  of  routine.  It  suggests 
the  substitution  of  drilling  for  thinking.  It  signifies  prescriptions  and  rules 
dictated  by  instructors  and  acquired  by  would-be  teachers.  The  dog  and 
pony  show  illustrates  what  can  be  done  by  training.  The  prospective  teacher 
needs  instruction  and  practice  in  constructive  thinking  more  than  he  needs 
training.  He  needs  frequently  to  apply  and  test  his  knowledge  in  concrete^ 
experience  of  his  own.  He  needs  direction  and  exercise  in  the  use  of  his  con¬ 
structive  ingenuity.  Opportunities  for  application  and  test  of  his  knowledge 
are  many  and  varied.  In  the  great  cities  the  potency  of  mechanism  stifles 
spontaneity  and  power  of  personal  reaction.  In  the  country  at  large  there  is 
much  opportunity  for  wholesome  professional  growth  thru  practice  which  is 
not  overdirected.  This  may  be  in  practice  schools,  or  thru  substitute  work 
in  schools  of  villages  and  small  cities,  but,  best  of  all,  in  rural  schools. 

The  typical  graduate  of  the  normal  school  and  of  the  teachers’  college  goes 
about  his  wmrk  in  too  large  a  degree  conscious  of  rules  and  prescriptions 
learned  by  him  while  undergoing  training.  But  he  should  be  nearly  uncon¬ 
scious  of  acquired  methods.  He  should  attack  his  wmrk  wdth  his  energies 
centered  upon  the  curious,  inquisitive,  kaleidoscopic  group  of  persons  given 
him  to  teach  or  exploit.  During  his  professional  preparation  his  skill  in 
adaptation  and  his  creative  imagination  need  stimulating  to  the  utmost.  By 
effort  he  should  acquire  the  ability  to  lose  himself  in  guiding  the  learner  and 
in  adapting  knowledge  to  the  use  of  the  learner.  There  is  something  in  all 
this  infinitely  better  than  the  thing  we  call  training. 

The  curriculum  used  in  educating  children  is  relatively  simple  and  stable; 
but  the  children  furnish  a  varying  stream  of  thought  and  action  exceedingly 
complex  and  difficult  to  comprehend.  We  count  out  a  few  hundred  facts  to 
be  taught  in  the  high  school.  We  classify,  tabulate,  and  label  them.  We  give 
ample  reference  to  bibliographies.  Most  of  the  high-school  teachers  have 
spent  some  years  in  college  learning  the  contents  of  the  curriculum.  We  permit 
them  to  make  diagnoses  off  hand  and  administer  the  medicine  with  reckless 
unconcern.  Our  prescriptions  are  dealt  out  chiefly  by  the  rule  of  cut  and 
try.  No  one  has  attempted  to  classify,  measure,  and  label  the  children  of  the 
high-school  classes. 

Custom  compels  the  elementary  teacher  to  learn  the  natural  traits  of 


Department]  ELEMENTARY  AND  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


663 


children  and  to  appeal  to  the  children  thru  things  which  are  known  to  them. 
But  custom  allows  the  high-school  teacher  tolerably  free  rein  to  follow  his 
tastes  and  inclinations.  Hence  he  usually  patterns  after  those  who  taught 
him.  With  somewhat  better  scholastic  acquirements  than  the  elementary 
teacher  has,  he  is  frequently  a  narrower  person,  living  more  wdthin  his  limited 
specialties,  and  teaching  subjects,  not  persons.  He  is  sometimes  woefully 
ignorant  of  the  child  to  be  taught. 

We  are  not  likely  to  make  progress,  excepting  in  spots,  until  some  parts  of 
our  educational  creed  are  reconstructed.  One  of  them  innocently  promulgated 
from  the  circles  of  higher  education  is  to  the  effect  that  a  half-educated  person 
is  good  enough  to  teach  children  up  to  and  including  the  last  day  in  the  ele¬ 
mentary  school,  while  a  fully  educated  person  is  needed  to  take  charge  of  the 
child  on  the  next  day  in  school,  i.  e.,  the  first  day  in  the  high  school.  By  this 
tenet  the  typical  normal  school  graduate  with  insufficient  academic  attain¬ 
ments  and  much  dogma  stands  for  the  half-educated  person,  while  the  univer¬ 
sity  graduate  crammed  and  surfeited  with  ill-digested  facts  and  theories 
acquired  in  college  lecture  rooms  represents  the  fully  educated  person.  This 
creed  is  convenient  and  practical.  It  is  more  easily  lived  up  to  than  a  better 
creed  would  be.  It  is  damaging  to  all  education. 

I  think  we  should  repudiate  these  invidious  discriminations,  for  if  anyone 
needs  a  college  education  it  is  the  teacher  who  guides  the  children  thru  the 
varied  subjects  used  in  the  grammar-school  grades.  If  anyone  needs  critical 
and  available  knowledge  of  human  nature  in  the  uncertain  period  of  child¬ 
hood  and  the  stormy  stages  of  adolescence  it  is  the  teacher  of  the  high-school 
child. 

Most  of  the  normal  schools  offer  limited  courses  which  high-school  gradu¬ 
ates  finish  in  two  years.  This  custom  precludes  separation  of  students  with  a 
view  to  preparing  them  for  different  kinds  of  service,  because  it  is  impossible 
in  so  short  a  time  to  differentiate  and  test  the  students  sufficiently  to  determine 
the  kind  of  teaching  to  which  they  are  severally  adapted.  Out  of  a  lot  of 
two-year-old  colts  a  horse-trainer,  judging  from  structure,  may  select  the 
trotting  horse  or  the  roadster  or  the  one  to  pull  the  beer  wagon;  but  we  cannot 
so  classify  prospective  teachers.  One  professor  of  education  in  a  great  uni¬ 
versity  informs  me  that  the  girls  entering  his  department  have  already  decided 
to  be  high-school  teachers.  There  is  an  educational  caste  in  his  state.  He 
says  the  graduates  of  his  department  would  be  humiliated  were  they  required 
to  teach  in  elementary  schools;  but  some  of  these  prospective  teachers  are 
by  nature  and  acquired  traits  adapted  to  the  work  of  primary  teachers  and 
nothing  else;  others  among  them  are  versatile,  forceful  persons,  adapted  to 
the  varied  life  of  the  grammar-school  teacher  and  wholly  unfit  for  the  confining 
specialties  of  secondary  education.  But  it  requires  many  months  of  time  to 
classify  these  persons  and  so  direct  their  study  and  work  that  no  part  of  their 
professional  lives  shall  be  wasted.  It  therefore  seems  clear  that  a  teachers’ 
college  or  normal  school  offering  such  a  short  cut  to  professional  life  as  a  two 


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NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


years’  course  should  devote  itself  to  general  courses  of  instruction  and  practice, 
leaving  final  differentiation  to  be  determined  after  graduation. 

But  some  normal  schools  offer  academic  courses  covering  the  college 
curriculum,  about  two-thirds  of  the  student’s  energy  being  devoted  to  academic 
subjects;  about  one-third,  to  professional  preparation.  Such  schools  offer 
special  courses  for  the  different  classes  of  teachers.  But  they  find  that  a  very 
large  part  of  all  that  the  elementary  teacher  should  know  is  needed  also  by  the 
high-school  teacher  and  vice  versa.  They  find  that  the  high-school  teacher 
should  not  be  ignorant  of  the  phases  of  life  in  elementary  schools;  for  it  is 
impossible  to  guide  with  certainty  the  high-school  student  if  the  teacher  is 
ignorant  of  the  preliminary  stages  thru  which  the  student  must  have  come. 
As  an  illustration,  suppose  a  would-be  teacher  detaches  himself  from  ordinary 
family  life  for  a  period  of  five  or  six  years  and  isolates  himself  in  university 
life  to  delve  in  knowledge  and  perchance  to  write  a  hundred  letters  for  research 
material  out  of  which  to  make  a  thesis.  Will  he  not  certainly  get  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  ways  of  child-life  ?  Is  it  not  clear  that  he  will  have  to  serve 
an  expensive  apprenticeship  in  order  to  reinstate  himself  in  the  ideals  of 
child-life  ?  Must  he  not  learn  by  wasteful  experiment  to  interpret  the  inherited 
and  acquired  qualities  in  the  victims  of  his  empiricism  ? 

The  facts  seem  to  show  unmistakably  the  unsoundness  of  the  doctrine 
that  a  child  may  at  one  time  have  for  his  teacher  a  sensible,  practical,  resource¬ 
ful  person  of  meager  academic  attainments  and  at  another  time  a  teacher  of 
deep  scholarship  in  a  few  specialties  and  dense  ignorance  in  more  vital  things. 
And  surely  the  typical  normal  school  should  stand  for  better  scholarship  in 
its  graduates;  but  the  university  should  remove  the  strong  hand  with  which 
it  clutches  the  high-school  teaching  corps.  The  normal  school  should  look 
into  and  master  the  requirements  of  high-school  instruction.  The  university 
should  have  a  higher  conception  of  the  preparation  of  all  teachers.  It  should 
be  as  close  to  the  elementary  school  as  to  the  high  school.  The  university 
now  stands  for  knowledge  as  against  processes  in  teaching.  It  should  go  to 
the  very  foundations  of  that  knowledge  which  appertains  to  the  capabilities, 
inclinations,  inheritances,  and  possibilities  of  the  child  and  the  youth  to  be 
taught. 

This  paper  presents  no  specifics,  devices,  schemes,  or  mechanisms  for 
preparing  high-school  teachers.  It  seeks  to  make  clear  some  conceptions  of 
life  in  education  which  ought  to  be  wrought  into  the  constitution  of  every  ^ 
w'ould-be  teacher. 

The  school  child  from  six  to  twenty  is  a  child  thru  all  his  years  of  schooling. 
He  is  the  product  of  forces  preceding  him.  His  inheritances  and  experiences 
make  him  what  he  is.  Without  knowledge  of  these  potencies  his  teacher 
cannot  with  certainty  direct  his  energies. 

We  have  a  somewhat  top-heavy  high-school  curriculum.  Higher  educa¬ 
tion  provides  for  that  and  sends  out  peripatetic  pedagogs  to  enforce  its  dicta. 
The  typical  high-school  teacher  lacks  sympathy  for  and  insight  into  the  transi- 


Department]  ELEMENTARY  AND  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


665 


tion  period  of  growing  high-school  children,  too  many  of  whom  suffer  with 
mental  dyspepsia,  being  loaded  with  undigested  and  indigestible  food  for  the 
mind.  Fresh  green  graduates  in  the  role  of  teachers  are  driving  out  our  rest¬ 
less  boys  from  the  high  schools.  Girls  being  used  to  the  cramping  effect  of 
conventionalities,  cannot  be  driven  from  school  by  empiricism,  tyranny,  or 
routine.  Yet  they  suffer  much. 

To  meet  the  conditions  teachers  will  have  to  be  so  prepared  as  to  know 
the  background  below  the  plane  of  consciousness  in  the  high-school  child  and 
to  see  how  things  must  look  to  him.  They  will  have  to  be  capable  of  worrying 
over  his  habits  and  deeds.  They  will  have  to  be  able  to  discover  the  avenues 
to  his  consciousness.  By  instruction  and  trial  they  will  be  obliged  to  learn 
how  to  reach  his  consciousness  thru  its  content  in  order  to  direct  energy  in 
the  mastery  of  things  outside  that  content.  They  have  no  right  to  invade 
classrooms  with  masses  of  knowledge  all  formulated  and  ready  to  transfer 
to  the  consciousness  of  the  high-school  child  regardless  of  his  previous  knowl¬ 
edge  and  experience. 

Each  boy  lives  in  a  world  of  concrete  tangible  things.  These  constitute 
the  soil  in  which  to  sow.  But  first  they  have  to  be  discovered  so  that  we  may 
start  the  boy  from  things  known  to  him  in  his  work  and  play.  Conceptions 
of  grammar  are  nearly  impossible  to  some  sensible  boys  because  they  have 
no  kindred  ideas  to  compare  it  with. 

This  paper,  therefore,  ventures  to  suggest  some  mental  states  or  attitudes 
with  which  efficient  teachers  by  instruction  or  experience  grow  familiar. 
These  states  or  attitudes  need  not  be  known  in  any  particular  form;  but 
their  recognition,  study,  and  use  become  part  of  the  conscious  or  unconscious 
habit  of  every  efficient  teacher  in  every  school.  Among  these  may  be  men¬ 
tioned  the  following; 

1.  The  non-receptive  or  unimpressionable  state  of  mind.  Students  at 
times  do  not  hear  what  is  said  to  them.  Tho  respectful  in  bodily  attitude 
their  minds  seem  inactive  or  non-receptive.  At  other  times  they  are  wakeful, 
attentive,  thoughtful,  in  receptive  attitude.  Many  of  them  are  non-receptive 
because  the  only  existing  avenues  to  their  consciousness  are  ignored.  The 
inattention  of  children  is  usually  not  their  fault.  It  is  just  a  part  of  themselves. 
No  two  are  reached  equally  well  at  the  same  time  thru  the  same  avenues  to 
their  consciousness.  Each  child  has  a  mass  of  concrete  personal  experiences 
thru  which  he  hears  and  sees.  He  is  receptive  when  approached  thru  these 
experiences.  When  not  so  approached  he  is  non-receptive.  Skilful  and 
sympathetic  teachers  never  proceed  without  believing  that  those  to  be  taught 
are  in  receptive  attitude.  And  it  is  for  prospective  teachers  thru  instruction 
and  experiment  to  gain  insight  into  varied  human  nature  so  that  they  may 
with  certainty  secure  this  attitude  even  from  the  most  indifferent  students. 

2.  Thru  the  recitative  attitude  we  secure  expression  of  the  simplest  kind 
of  mental  reaction.  This  attitude  does  not  imply  much  thinking.  It  does 
not  require  much.  It  implies  receptivity  and  just  enough  of  mental  reaction 


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NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


to  reproduce  forms  spoken  or  otherwise  delivered  or  assigned  by  teachers. 
From  primary  school  to  college  typical  lesson  assignments  presuppose  that 
lessons  are  to  be  looked  at  or  heard  and  reproduced  to  the  teacher  in  the  way 
he  wants  them  delivered  to  him.  And,  altho  the  recitative  attitude  signifies 
poor  teaching  and  vague  conceptions  of  the  teacher’s  relation  to  the  one  taught, 
it  is  still  the  pedagog’s  mainstay,  his  stock  in  trade,  his  source  of  greatest 
pride.  To  lead  young  teachers  to  use  it  effectively  and  yet  to  realize  its  utter 
inadequacy  by  itself  is  one  of  the  hardest  and  longest  tasks  in  the  preparation 
of  all  teachers. 

3.  The  reiterative  attitude  is  the  recitative  with  concentration  a  little  pro¬ 
longed.  It  is  based  upon  good  receptivity.  But  the  reciter  in  this  attitude 
is  unduly  conscious  of  the  forms  of  expression.  He  lacks  spontaneity.  When 
started  on  a  paragraph  or  a  page  which  he  is  to  reiterate,  he  is  like  a  boy 
coasting;  it  is  disagreeable  to  be  upset.  He  can’t  get  another  good  start 
without  returning  to  the  point  of  departure.  But  I  have  visited  many  high- 
school  teachers  and  college  professors  who  rely  chiefly  upon  the  reiterative 
attitude  and  glow  with  enthusiasm  when  a  poor  parrot  of  a  child  can  repeat, 
perchance  in  his  own  words,  a  long  paragraph  or  a  long  lesson. 

4.  Without  a  generation  of  college  professors  who  know  good  teaching 
and  practice  it,  the  preparation  of  high-school  teachers  can  never  succeed 
very  well.  So  often  the  professor  says  to  his  students:  “Read  the  book  and 
get  the  author’s  thought;”  or,  “Listen  to  me  and  get  my  thought.”  But 
reading  is  not  getting  another  person’s  thought.  Reading  is  thinking;  and 
hearing-language  is  thinking.  So  long  as  teachers  and  pupils  meet  chiefly 
for  recitation  their  thinking  is  of  a  low  type.  Infinitely  better  than  reciting 
and  reiterating  is  cogitating.  Every  true  teacher  secures  from  each  one  taught 
the  cogitative  attitude  of  mind.  But  the  typical  professor  dislikes  to  be  inter¬ 
rupted  in  his  lectures.  He  desires  students  to  hear  and  reproduce  “in  sub¬ 
stance”  what  he  says.  He  seems  not  to  know  that  hearing-language  and 
observing  and  reading  are  all  thinking  processes  requiring  continuously  the 
cogitative  attitude  of  the  mind.  He  is  too  commonly  a  recitationist;  but  he 
influences  tremendously  the  high-school  teachers.  They  follow  his  ways. 
His  apparent  purpose  is  to  produce  reciters  rather  than  thinkers.  He  thinks 
and  formulates  for  them.  They  recite  after  him.  How  delightful  it  is  to  run 
across  those  rare  ones  among  us  who  are  skilful  in  having  students  work  out 
and  think  out  and  formulate  subject-matter  with  them. 

It  is  for  normal  schools  and  teachers’  colleges  to  recast  a  great  part  of  the 
current  conception  of  the  teacher’s  function  and  by  a  large  variety  of  teaching 
experiments  to  bring  all  prospective  teachers  into  a  condition  of  constant 
eagerness  to  teach  skilfully  thru  utilization  of  the  ever-varying  attitudes  of 
those  to  be  taught. 

5-7.  The  inquisitive,  skeptical,  and  critical  attitudes  of  mind  are  suppressed 
in  a  large  proportion  of  high-school  and  college  classes.  The  typical  recita¬ 
tion  hearer  does  not  enjoy  them.  They  savor  too  much  of  disrespect  for  his 


Department]  ELEMENTARY  AND  HIGH-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


667 


dogmatism.  They  throw  him  off  his  beaten  track.  They  disturb  his  habit 
as  a  recitationist.  They  dislocate  the  adjustment  of  his  oft-repeated  story. 
They  are  too  much  like  common  life  outside  the  school;  they  turn  the  mind 
from  form  to  content.  They  lead  toward  definite  questions,  answers,  argu¬ 
ments,  and  conclusions.  They  force  issues  to  finalities.  They  are  the  delight 
of  the  full-fledged  artist  teacher  in  every  school  of  every  kind. 

8.  Another  characteristic  of  good  teaching  is  the  combative  or  disputative 
mental  attitude  which  implies  living  together  as  student  and  teacher  and  strug¬ 
gling  with  one  another  in  friendly  combat.  In  this  attitude  the  student 
would  not  hurt  the  teacher’s  feelings,  the  teacher  would  not  play  boss  or  dog¬ 
matist,  both  student  and  teacher  delight  in  courteously  m.aking  unlooked-for 
interpretation  of  things,  teacher  and  student  live  together  in  subjects,  work 
out  things  together,  indulge  in  sparkling,  friendly  croc-s  fire,  and  welcome 
witty  retorts  made  in  good  temper.  But  how  can  normal  schools  and  teachers’ 
colleges  prepare  teachers  to  skilfully  utilize  this  state  of  mind  ?  Partly,  per¬ 
haps,  by  instruction,  but  more  by  exemplifying  it  thru  companionship  with 
students  in  classrooms  while  teaching  classes  in  the  ordinary  academic  sub¬ 
jects.  And  the  college  professor  should  give  us  a  square  deal  and  do  his  share. 

9.  The  discursive  or  argumentative  attitude  of  the  mind  is  better  still.  As 
a  school  inspector  I  many  times  longed  to  discover  some  difference  of  opinion 
between  the  high-school  teacher  and  his  students.  The  peaceful,  monotonous 
harmony  which  commonly  prevails  in  the  high-school  classes,  means  low 
mental  vitality  and  wasted  opportunities.  It  marks  long  and  slow  growth 
into  habitual  credulity.  Where  the  critical,  honestly  skeptical,  inquisitive, 
cogitative  attitudes  are  utilized,  the  many  persons  taught  see  and  think  of  many 
things  which  the  one  person  who  teaches  cannot  see  or  think  of.  Frank  and 
honest  exchange  of  ideas  as  to  how  things  look  does  not  mean  waste.  It 
means  joint  action  and  larger  thought  product.  It  means  divided  responsi¬ 
bilities  and  definite  conclusions.  It  does  not  mean  opinions  formed  by  teacher 
and  taught  to  students.  It  means  conclusions  that  stick  forever  because  they 
are  worked  out  in  the  friendly  competition  of  many  persons,  each  one’s  notion 
being  tested  by  the  criticism  of  many  others. 

10.  Best  of  all  is  the  constructively  synthetical  attitude.  It  is  seldom 
found  in  the  typical  high-school  recitation.  It  is  sometimes  found  in  the 
grammar-school  grades  where  alert,  well-taught,  masterful  teachers  dare 
allow  their  pupils  to  think  for  themselves,  to  struggle  with  subject-matter,  to 
sum  up  or  build  up  conclusions  and  declare  where  they  are,  how  far  they  have 
come,  and  what  they  anticipate  in  view  of  the  mental  structures  already  erected. 

This  list  of  attitudes 'is  illustrative,  not  exhaustive.  The  typical  normal 
school  delivers  recipes  and  prescriptions  for  doing  things.  The  teachers’ 
college  in  the  university  is  perhaps  a  little  worse;  it  quotes  from  a  larger 
bibliography.  Both  normal  schools  and  teachers’  colleges  are  consuming 
their  best  energies  learning  and  reciting  what  some  one  has  thought  and  for¬ 
mulated.  But  the  poorest  thing  by  which  we  deceive  ourselves  is  the  median- 


668 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


[Secondary 


ism  called  the  recitation.  It  assumes  the  student  to  be  a  reflecting  machine 
to  receive  and  return  ideas  and  impressions.  Professors  who  rely  chiefly  upon 
the  lecture,  the  “quiz,”  and  the  “exam”  seldom  appreciate  any  process  above 
the  recitative.  They  assume  receptivity.  They  are  satisfied  to  receive  back 
the  content  of  talks  and  textbooks.  When,  by  repression  and  bodily  inaction, 
students  lapse  into  somnolent  torpidity,  then  inefficiency  finds  relief  in  note¬ 
books.  Voluminous  copies  of  profoundly  obscure  lectures  are  kept.  Bodily 
action  in  note-taking  keeps  awake  the  students  of  many  an  inefficient  professor. 
There  is  fatal  sequence.  Stenographers  copy  into  notebooks  what  speakers 
say,  put  aside  notebooks  feeling  free  from  worry  of  cogitation,  and  later  on 
reproduce  from  notes  exactly  what  was  uttered.  In  like  manner  the  pedagog 
substitutes  transmission  for  cogitation,  obstructs  thinking,  prevents  face  to 
face  contact  with  living  teacher  and  snatches  away  opportunity  to  comprehend 
and  assimilate  subject-matter  while  fresh  and  new. 

“Quiz”  follows  lecture,  further  disguising  professional  unfitness.  “Quiz¬ 
zing”  is  not  teaching.  “Quizzing”  narrows  thinking  of  many  into  channels 
of  one.  The  “exam”  concludes  the  hampering  process.  Much  lecturing 
and  “quizzing”  call  for  much  examining  because  teacher  is  ignorant  of 
student’s  mental  content  and  attitude.  But  lecture,  “quiz,”  and  “exam” 
are  the  stock  in  trade  of  many  a  friend  of  ours  who  never  dreams  of 
cogitating,  analyzing,  questioning,  arguing,  and  working  out  with  students 
the  subject-matter  to  be  dealt  with,  digested,  and  assimilated. 

IV.  CONCLUSION 

All  teachers  during  their  professional  preparation  need  in  common: 

1.  To  secure  by  instruction  and  experience  a  working  knowledge  of  child¬ 
hood  and  adolescence. 

2.  To  acquire  in  teaching  the  habit  of  basing  daily  instruction  on  the 
learner’s  mental  content  and  attitude  in  order  to  modify  both  his  content  and 
his  attitude  and  accustom  him  to  the  habitual  and  independent  reorganization 
of  his  mental  content. 

3.  By  trial  in  many  phases  of  experimental  teaching  they  need  severally 
to  discover  themselves  and  what  their  several  talents  are,  and  in  view  of  their 
talents  inherited  and  acquired,  what  they  are  severally  destined  to  do  best. 

To  do  all  this  will  consume  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  time  and  energy 
which  teachers  can  devote  to  initial  preparation. 

Probably  one-tenth  of  the  labor  in  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers 
should  be  devoted  to  special  pedagogical  aspects  of  subjects  to  be  taught.  In 
these  special  aspects  high-school  teachers  and  elementary  teachers,  after 
differentiation  and  near  the  end  of  their  professional  preparation  need  sepa¬ 
rate  instruction  in  such  things  as  bibliographies,  appliances,  and  the  corre¬ 
lation  of  each  separate  subject  with  other  parts  of  the  curriculum. 


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